Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019, Sam Beard and Esther Nelson, Zone Wildlife Biologist, worked with Russell Berman, SRD Trails Foreman, who used the SRD Ditch Witch skidsteer to complete rough-ins of holes for a new wildlife collector/tank and drinker at the Borrow Wildlife Water Site. Photos of the present collector are presented in the attached Word document. The present collector/drinker will remain in use as long as it is operational. Photos of the new rain collector/tank and drinker are also presented in the attached document.

The new collector/tank is 96 inches long, 63 inches wide at the top, and 27 inches deep. The drinker with an internal float valve assembly is 53 inches long, 30 inches wide, and 20 inches deep. Both components will be installed so that the top rim will be above the ground to reduce the flow of surface water and debris into the collector/tank and drinker. The photos also show the two holes dug by Russell. Hand tools will be used by FOSM volunteers to complete the holes and install the components so that they are level and at the proper depth. Russell also started digging the 30-foot long ditch between the tank and the drinker. Volunteers will complete digging the ditch to a depth of about 18 inches, the approximate depth of the inlet pipe on the drinker. On Wednesday, Oct. 16, the components will be moved by truck to the site on the Old Crest Highway about one mile from Doc Long Picnic Area.

If installation of the collector/tank and drinker is not completed on Wednesday, we will continue working on this project on Wed., Oct. 23.

Sam Beard, Projects Chair

Friends of the Sandia Mountains