Hello Everyone,
On Wednesday, May 1, eleven volunteers worked on tasks in the Doc Long and Cienega Canyon Picnic Areas at the request of Elke Schuster, SRD Recreation Staff Officer, in preparation for opening the picnic areas on May 15.
1. Acequia Trail Maintenance -- Lou Romero and Steve Roholt removed part of a very large ponderosa pine root ball that was intruding on the trail. They also removed an 8-inch tree that had fallen across the trail between the two lower restrooms.
2. Removed Down Trees from Both Picnic Areas -- In both picnic areas volunteers removed a half-dozen trees that had been felled as hazard trees earlier. A few trees that fell during a wind storm were also removed. The maximum diameter was approximately 20 inches. After trees were bucked to 12 or 16 inches, depending on the diameter, they were loaded directly onto USFS pickups and hauled to the SRD shop area where they will be stored until donated to organizations that will distribute them to needy families in the East Mountain area. Wood located some distance from a road was hauled in wheelbarrows to the pickups. A total of five pickup loads were moved to the Ranger Station.
3. Collected Juniper Branches for Christmas Ornaments -- Several juniper branches were collected as part of a project to make ornaments for the Capitol Christmas Tree that will come from the Carson National Forest. The 3-inch to 4-inch diameter branches will be cut into disks, and a hole will be drilled in them where a ribbon will placed. Esther Nelson, SRD Wildlife Biologist, is managing this project on the SRD.
The volunteers working on Wednesday were Byron Garner, Lou Romero, Jerry Pekarek, Jim Levesque, Steve Roholt, Eric Russell, Ben Meisner, Sam Beard, Dan Benton, Don Carnicom, and Dennis Crowther.
Photographs are presented in the attached Word document.
Sam Beard, Projects Chair
Friends of the Sandia Mountains