Golden Trout Wilderness June 2011
June 25-28, 2011, nine volunteers from SDFF and 4 "friends and family" hiked into the Golden Trout Wilderness to repair the cattle exclusion fence which protects the spawning grounds on upper Nine Mile Creek.
This year was especially difficult. Each Fall the fence is dropped, then put back up in the Spring, to minimize damage from the heavy snows. Over time the wire became rusted, broken and spliced in many places. "SDFF to the rescue!" We bought 3 miles of new barbed wire with Club conservation funds and USFS mules carried it into the meadow. Stringing new wire was tough work, but coiling up miles of the old rusty stuff was even harder! Keep in mind that this is a wilderness area: no machinery is allowed. It all had to be carried to and from the corral where the mules were loaded. Fence posts holes are dug by hand, "H" braces were hand sawed and the wire was stretched using old fashioned manual wire pullers. The end result was spectacular and the Forest Service was IMPRESSED.
Many thanks to Bruce Bechard, Bruce Michael, Larry Sorensen, Jon Holland, Wayne Johnson, Heidi Brown, her friend Will, Mark Hedderson, his brother John and Paul Costa. They worked hard and all caught a "few fish".
PS Larry defines a few fish as "something over thirty"!
With new wire, the next few years should be much easier.
---Gary Strawn, SDFF Conservation Chair
Date: 06/23/2011
Size: 11 items
