To find the Town of Mammoth, travel about an hour northeast of Tucson on AZ Highway 77. As you pass the Santa Catalina Moun-tains to the south and drop down from Oracle, to the east are the Galiuro Mountains. Between the Galiuro and Catalina mountain ranges, the San Pedro River snakes its way north to its conflu-ence at the Gila River. Mammoth is situated in this valley on the west side of the San Pedro River. East of Mammoth, on the oppo-site bank of the river, lies the property known as the 7B Ranch, managed by The Nature Conserv-ancy. The ranch extends about six miles and includes roughly 3000 acres of river bottomland, Sonor-an desert uplands and an intact mesquite bosque that stretches along the river. The mesquite bosque is a designated Important Bird Area (IBA), and the location of a 1.5 mile interpretive trail that winds through the IBA, within walking distance of the town of Mammoth.

In 2011, 12 miles of fence was installed to protect the 7B Ranch mesquite bosque and IBA. While

fencing in the mesquite bosque, the local population was fenced out, causing concern among Mammoth’s residents. Resolution Copper Mining recognized their responsibility to be a good com-munity member, so they included the creation of a public interpre-tive trail.

In January 2013, AmeriCorps volunteers Melissa Jade Russell and Cameron Becker bent their backs to the task of assisting in the development of the interpretive trail and trailhead. They helped install a turnstile gate, cleared accumulated trash and pruned away dead mesquite limbs. In the process, good relationships were built with the folks of Mammoth. Passing motorists and townspeo-ple noticed the volunteers, very visible at their work, which creat-ed interest in the project. Once these folks understood the bene-fits many expressed their appreci-ation. Cameron and Melissa were thus fabulous ambassadors for the project.

Building relationships within our communities is a primary objec-

The 7B Trail Leads to Our Neighbors By Celeste Andresen, 7-B Ranch Steward

Our Am er iC or ps Prog ram

The Conservancy is in the 3rd year of an AmeriCorps grant. This year 7 AmeriCorps members will lever-age an additional 250 volunteers for on-the-ground work dedicated to conservation goals including fire and fuels management, riparian and

aquatic system restoration, sensitive species protection, native grasslands mainte-nance, exotic/invasive species management, and environmen-tal education especially target-ing youth and corporate volun-

T H E N A T U R E C O N S E R V A N C Y

A R I Z O N A C H A P T E R JUNE 2013

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

1510 E FT LOWELL

TUCSON, AZ 85719

520-622-3861

VOL: Y3 # 2

AmeriCorps 2012-2013

Members 2012-2013

Amy Zimmermann

Ashlie Tainer

Cameron Becker

Liz Lott

Luke Reese

Melissa Russell

Maura O’Brien Our AmeriCorps Alums

Brian Dugan

Christina Kondrat-Smith

Halley Bagley

Gretchen Mominee

Nate Labieniec

Ryan Middleton

Scott Curley

Selena Pao

Tanya Wallin

Inside this issue:

7B Leads to our neighbors Ashlie’s actions

1

2

Cameron’s roundup 2

Liz’s log 2

Luke’s Salamander 3

Maura’s monitoring 3

Melissa’s meanderings

Amy’s activities

4

4

What our alums are doing now

4

tive of The Nature Conservancy.The San Pedro River Watershed Pro-gram benefits greatly from working with partners and our work on the river. The importance of the rela-tionships that Melissa and Cameron built during their week on the 7B Ranch interpretive trail is integral to The Nature Conservancy and the San Pedro River Watershed Program.

Cameron and Melissa’s creativity and inquisitiveness were infectious. Creativity and inquisitiveness are qualities which I sometimes allow to lapse when I become complacent with mundane or routine tasks. This energetic AmeriCorps team, in their quiet example, reminded me of how to view a project with a fresh per-spective, and to continue to ask questions about this amazing world.

Celeste at All Hands On Earth Festival

©Liz Lott

teers. These efforts will take place in 9 counties in Arizona.

The mission of AmeriCorps is to improve lives, strengthen commu-nities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.

The Nature Conservancy and Arizona's Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) joined together to provide stu-dents with a real-world learning experience through the Water Investigations Program (WIP). Students and their teachers are participating in a year-long hands-on curriculum all about water- where it comes from, how we use it, what it does in the natural world, and how we can conserve it! Having already learned where Arizona water comes from and the need for conservation, the

students are studying the ways botanists, biologists and hydrolo-gists study water. They then write their own investigative questions to explore the factors that affect water quality, as well as plant and animal life, at the Hassayampa River Preserve.

Volunteers are needed to act as mentor scientists during the field investigations with middle and high school students throughout the Spring. I recruited and coordi-nated two volunteers for our first WIP Field Investigation on Janu-ary 17th. They were from the University of Arizona Master

Gardeners’ class and their inter-ests and background fit perfectly with our message of water conser-vation.

As a result of this event, I was able to establish a lasting partner-ship with the Master Gardeners, comprised of over 700 members, while meeting the needs of the Project WET Program and work-ing towards my AmeriCorps ser-vice requirements. Even more exciting, the students had an un-forgettable time gathering real-world data that they will present to their peers during a symposium at year’s end.

Ashlie’s act ions

Liz’s log

Cameron’s roundup

nature festivals and our Scotts-dale educational gallery has been fun and effective at engaging the community with the Conservan-cy’s work around the state. A surprising number of Arizonans have never heard of The Nature Conservancy, or they group us with all the other environmental organizations. However, once I start talking about Conservancy projects, i.e. the forest technol-ogy installations near Flagstaff, restoring the flow of the San Pedro or our efforts with Pro-

Building support and capacity for The Nature Conservancy involves both recruiting volun-teers to support stewardship projects as well as increasing interaction with the community; the latter is critical to our suc-cess at building a strong founda-tion with continuing support of TNC. Through outreach events and community programming, I am working to help TNC con-nect with Arizonans from all around the state.

Attendance at farmers’ markets,

ject WET to teach kids about water, people sit up and take notice.

As a result of our participation at these events, people who have never heard of a watershed are now talking to their kids about using low-flow aerators and oth-er ways to conserve water. These outreach events are very effective at connecting with youngsters and should result in a league of supporters from the younger generation. They, in turn, will continue the work toward a sus-tainable future.

complete the cattle trap to catch animals and return them to their owners. This helps the riparian area as well as building good rela-tionships with the preserve’s neighbors. We worked with a neighboring rancher, Carlos, from the Triangle Bar, to put in posts, gates and panels to make the trap secure and effective. With Carlos’ knowledge and our combined effort we were able to complete the trap. Carlos volunteered his own time as well as one of his

worker’s time to help us with the project. While working, we got to enjoy each other’s company and practice our Spanish at the same time.

Even though we were not able to be present when they actually collected and returned Carlos’ cattle, we were satisfied with the results of our work. We are pleased with the positive relation-ships developed with the neigh-bors.

As an AmeriCorps member with the Conservancy, I have worked in many beautiful places in Arizo-na, particularly along the San Pedro watershed. While working on the San Pedro preserve we faced many obstacles, the primary one being fence boundary issues.

Keeping cattle out of the riparian area of the preserve has been a continual process. Melissa Rus-sell, another AmeriCorps Stew-ardship Assistant, and I helped to

PAGE 2

AMERICORPS

2012-2013

Children at Hassayampa River Preserve participating in WIP

©Ashlie Tainer

Cameron preparing concrete for trail gate.

© Celeste Andresen

Liz

preparing

for

forest

gallery.

©TNC

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree…” This was my thought as I pulled into Xanadu Ranch to spend my first of two days with Arizona Game and Fish biologists survey-ing the Sonoran Tiger Salaman-der. The name Xanadu seemed appropriate to me since the en-dangered Sonoran tiger salaman-der was as mysterious to me as Citizen Kane’s “Rosebud” was to reporters in the movie. Over the next two days, I got to know the history of this salamander in nearly as much detail as the re-porters got to know Kane.

The Sonoran tiger salamander is an endangered species that re-sides in cattle tanks in the San

Rafael Valley. The AZ Game and Fish (AZGF) plan was to hit a sample of the tanks. pulling a seine net across each tank to search it for salamanders. The first net produced adults still in aquatic form, with long external gills and clear skin, as well as metamorphosed adults with no gills, black skin and yellow spots. We measured their lengths and returned them to the water.

Day two was a challenge. We drove across rough roads only to strike out after three passes with the seine net. After finding only one salamander all day we crossed a beautiful stretch of grasslands and came to a tank filled with ducks. It was large,

had gravelly banks and was easy pulling. In addition to aquatic-form adults, I found hundreds of eggs.

Thanks to this AmeriCorps expe-rience, I had the opportunity to work in the mud, drive across almost-pristine and contiguous grassland, and get to know the mysterious Sonoran tiger sala-mander’s life history while help-ing AZGF assess the status of the salamander’s endangered popula-tion in the San Rafael Valley.

L u ke ’s S a l a m a n d e r M y s t e r i e s

Maura’s monitor ing features, I believed that they had been built to manipulate the landscape to serve the prop-erty owners, perhaps by irre-versibly altering the course of the tributaries that cross the ranch. However, it seems that these structures have done quite the opposite: preserve the land-scape in its natural state and protect it from runaway ero-sion. These were, in fact the intended goals of these struc-tures, which were built in the 1930’s – 1960’s by local ranch-ers who knew how to manage their land sustainably using local materials.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Vince Ogorek,the rancher whose family owned

this property during that time and was responsible for the construc-tionof these structures. We met at the River Stone property itself. Also present at this meeting were another knowledgeable local rancher, Lee Wood, Peter War-ren, an ecologist who works at The Nature Conservancy, and local agriculture expert Mary Nichols. This meeting was a spe-cial event for me to witness and take part in. As someone who is new to Arizona and The Nature Conservancy, it was amazing to be part of an exchange of conserva-tion knowledge and history in the ranching community, and to learn to apply these techniques to mod-ern conservation.

Much of my work as Upper San Pedro Riparian Restoration Coordinator has focused on studying a group of properties that The Nature Conservancy owns within the San Pedro wa-tershed. These properties con-tain important native grass communities and are close to the river. I have spent most of my time on a property called River Stone, which contains about 20 ‘erosion control’ structures intended to prevent soil erosion during summer monsoons. These features in-clude many earthen berms as well as a large cement drop structure in one of the tributar-ies.

When I first encountered these

PAGE 3

VOL: Y3 # 2

Luke surveying salamanders. ©Jeff Sorensen, AZGF

The AmeriCorps grant to The Nature Conservancy is a sub-grant from the

Arizona Governor’s office for Children, Youth and Families.

The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on

which all life depends.

Maura (r ) and Ashlie (l)

at staff retreat.

©Amy Zimmermann

Aravaipa Preserve

Lower San Pedro River—Dudleyville/3 Links Farm

Upper San Pedro River—Sierra Vista

Muleshoe Ranch

Patagonia Preserve

Hart Prairie Preserve

Phoenix

Ramsey Canyon Preserve

Verde River—Camp Verde

****

M E M B E R S E R V I C E

L O C A T I O N S

For questions or to be removed from this mailing contact dboone@tnc.org,

520-547-3437

Melissa’s Meander ings

we spotted a coati, then an-

other, as their group of ap-

proximately 20 scattered

around us on the canyon

walls.

Our discussion involved the tools that are available for water monitoring, as well as the importance of sampling and complying with the stand-ards for these important sites. At the spring we took over a half dozen samples while Pat-tie Spindler, a hydrologist

Cameron and I joined AZ

Dept. of Environmental

Quality (ADEQ) during

their water monitoring at

Buehman Canyon, which

involved a scenic ride into

the east side of the Catalina

Mountains. We packed

lunch and our equipment

and set out in a fresh snow

melt upstream to the spring.

Along the way we identified

fish, plants and even mos-

quito larva. About half way

with AZDEQ and Celeste Andresen of the Conserv-ancy explained which sam-ples get tested for heavy metals, organisms, etc. During our hike back, we spotted a Coopers hawk, with red eyes and almost silver feathers, perched in a high tree along the streambed. Seeing this incredible variety of wild life confirms my desire to have the greatest positive impact I can on our envi-ronment.

Amy’s act iv it ies

During my first volunteer event,

11 volunteers came out to help

at Shield Ranch, half of whom

had never volunteered with The

Nature Conservancy before.

We had a great time dismantling

nearly half a mile of barbed wire

fence, something that most of

them had never done. Even

Melissa’s meander ings

though we had barely enough

tools to go around, everyone

found a way to stay busy: rolling

wire, pulling posts, disentangling

the wire on the fence from

weeds, and disconnecting the

wire from the posts. Everyone

worked together and very quick-

ly settled into a fluid rhythm that

seemed special from a

team of strangers who had

known each other less

than an hour. After we

completed the task, more

than half of the volunteers

offered their time when I

need extra help. Their

enthusiasm was incredi-

ble.

News of our Alums Brian Dugan is the North Central Indiana

Steward with The Nature Conservancy

Chrissy Kondrat-Smith is a Wildlife Tech-nician with AZ Game and Fish

Halley Bagley is busy in Jerome, AZ

Gretchen Mominee is working at Yosemi-te National Park

Nate Labieniec back in Arizona in Jerome

Ryan Middleton (we’re awaiting word of his next posting)

Scott Curley is working at Pound Ridge Conservancy in New York state

Selena Pao is working at Mesa Verde Na-tional Park in Colorado

Tanya Wallin is headed to grad school at William Carey University, Hattiesburg, MS

Melissa removing fence at

Muleshoe Ranch.

©Cameron Becker

Amy’s volunteers removing fence.

© Amy Zimmermann