the pinyons up north

Today: field work at 5800+ feet at 19°.

I really, really, really love volunteering with NRCS (I think I'd love working for them more, but I'll take what I can get for now). Today's field work took us up to the Hualapai Reservation to Peach Springs, Arizona, which I visited in August. After a soil and water conservation district meeting, we drove up into the open rangeland north of town to spot check some conservation procedures. Apparently juniper is invasive here, so the object of this practice was to cut down/remove all junipers under 16 inches dbh (diameter at breast height, a common forestry measurement). The dbh limitation was because there were apparently some complaints about removing old growth (aka big trees).

So our job was to drive around the plot in question and spot check if there were any small junipers left. Even though it was open rangeland as far as the eye could see, it was kind of challenging, because juniper and pinyon look roughly the same from a distance in the bright, bright sun. We ended up getting out a few times to measure out 1/10 acre and count the species of trees. It was really cold and windy! Overall though, success. There were just a few small junipers that needed to be taken care of still.

Driving to and from Hualapai from and to Kingman was pretty incredible. I just can't get over the enormous vistas here. Unfortunately, they make me kind of dizzy*, but it's pretty beautiful. I also saw my first instance of "blowing dust" today, from a ranch that NRCS is working with because it is like the Dustbowl there. Seriously, the fences get so clogged with tumbleweed and blowing dust that the cattle can just climb over it. So that's not good, but it was still really interesting to see.

No antelope, no burro, so that was disappointing, but I've only been here ten days, with more fieldwork and adventures ahead--
Tomorrow: field work in Wikieup, and driving a government vehicle for the first time!
This weekend: Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, Meteor Crater and Flagstaff

*So it turns out that carsickness is a type of vertigo, which is exacerbated at high elevations. Fun!