Where the water comes together with other water.
Following their first hitch of the season, SCA Hydro began its second hitch immediately after. First hitch veteran Luis Suarez and newcomer Jenna Dohman headed to incredible sights and endless valleys. Taking a voyage with the Forest Service’s Watershed team, John, Tom, and Jared, SCA Hydro made its way to the Pahsimeroi Valley. Following previous instruction while learning new ones, Dohman and Suarez were conducting surveys with the Watershed crew on range allotments that were wing renewed. Iron Creek and Little Lost Creek, to name a few, were among the chief sites that the Forest Service were monitoring in order to guarantee those that are receiving permits to graze cattle are conducting business along best management principles. Surveying the site itself and an hour upstream by foot, additional stream data was gathered and stream maps were made by hand or via GPS imaging patchwork. Along with the usual sieving process of dividing the creek bed sediment into tiers of different sizes, renewing range allotments requires the additional survey upstream. Dohman and Suarez traveled the second week to the Big Lost River Valley, southwest of the Pahsimeroi. Camping out each night and employing Leave No Trace ethics, SCA Hydro accompanied the Watershed crew up until the last site, Wet Creek. Both weeks were challenging in their own right with ever-changing weather conditions and diverse creek sites. Whether it be rushing water or boggy mud, safety was a constant while traveling upstream was always a worry in terms of footing. The end of the first week even involved SCA Hydro surveying East Boulder Creek as a line pair, which turned out to be quite a success. After a month of shadowing the Watershed Crew, SCA Hydro will continue learning and improving until the end of their season. Dohman and Suarez were glad to have shared such an enlivening experience.
