Hike to water. Get in water. Repeat.
The third hitch of hydro featured crew members: Drew Gilberti and Sarah Koeber. The first week of work was located in the Lemhi area and the second took place near Salmon.
With the exception of the first day, which began with data entry, each day would consist of two to three sample sites in the Lemhi area. Extended reaches were introduced to the team on Thursday. Doing a survey that includes an extended reach involves hiking up a creek for up to a mile. During the hike crew members make observations about the creek’s stability, and then fill out corresponding documents. This information is used by the forest service to modify cattle land allotments.
The second week was an extended trip for the Watershed team. This means the SCA members would be camping with the watershed crew for the duration of the week. The work was done around Moyer, so the team stayed at the base while completing work on the creeks. During the second week the team set out to complete samples and extended reaches at eight sites. The team put in considerable time to complete the eight sites. This was especially true of Tuesday, on which the team completed three sites. Luckily this extra work on Tuesday allowed for some freedom in the remaining days.
The third hitch ended up being very productive. Two to three sites were done on most days, which resulted in the completion of 14 sites, 10 of which included extended reach survey portions.