From Tonto to Yuma Proving Ground

Took a quick trip to the desert. Thought I'd share a few photos. (Susan and Natalie, I'd like to apologize for not getting any photos of our day in the field, I think I'd left my camera in the car that day.....)

Met up with Karen, Daniel, Nat, and Tasya in Tonto

Gnarly roads in YPG

We found this lizard hiding under a rock in the road, my lizard-squeezer friend says it's a Western Banded Gecko, Coleonyx variegatus.

Beavertail Cactus

Met up with Joe and Walt

Red Team - Week 3 Tohono O'odham

The red team had quite the eventful week on the Tohono O'odham Nation. After a lovely morning in Ike's Coffee Shop and a lunch at In-N-Out, we made our way to the nation. We were fortunate enough to stay the entire week at the Sells Rec Center where the staff was friendly and the showers were hot. Even got to watch a movie on the Smart Screen! Saturday morning we had the pleasure of being locked into the rec center parking lot; the second time in my life I've been accidentally locked into somewhere. Tues morning we encountered our subplot from hell--velvet mesquite just taller than either of us (top row, 2nd from left). We're still picking thorns out of our skin. Thursday morning our slowly leaking tire finally gave up leading to a tire change on a Silverado in under 40 min. Not too shabby given that we hadn't even eaten breakfast yet.

We did see one of our first wildflowers, saw numerous burros, flushed some UDA's, and got to watch every border patrol agent that drove past our truck stop and look. It took all my will-power not to click the alarm to watch them freak out.

Thanks to Karen, the Sells Rec Staff, and all the residents that made us feel so welcomed!

from next to Nothing to beyond Hope

in the beginning, we were next to Nothing...

we found the Land of a Thousand Chollas...... and they found us.

we left our mark on the tomato during Shower Day
(good showers here in Wikiup, by the way!)

from here we encountered the Unforgettable Women of Wenden and the place where Salome danced (who's read Skinny Legs and All...?)
by the end of it all, we were beyond Hope.

Joke

How do you make a tissue dance? Put a little boogie in it!

Progress as of Feb. 22nd, 2011

WARNING: the embedded KML viewer does not appear to run very well in Firefox. It loads fast in Google Chrome if you want to try that.

These are all plots we've sampled so far. The green check-marks represent detections of our target invasives (invasives are present on at least one of the subplots), the red X's non-detections (target invasives are not present on any of the subplots), and the blue question-marks "unknowns". A plot get's an unknown classification if the data have not been submitted to me yet, or if the datasheets (where you are supposed to circle "yes" or "no" for the presence of any of the target invasives on the subplot) are incomplete. This is the case on datasheets for several of the plots. We should try to make sure this field gets an entry every time we sample a subplot. Plots for which you've submitted photos on our Picasa page have images associated with the features when you click on them on the map. It's a nice way to be able to relate what's visible in the imagery in Google Earth to what we know is on the ground.

First work period

I've been going through all of your photos to organize and file datasheets and subplot photos. I thought I should share some of my favorite non-plot photos. 

Rain in the forecast!

Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Yuma, AZ

Hawk - Our Valentine's Hero

We would like to send out a special thanks to Hawk, who put Susan and Natalie back on the road. Thanks, Hawk! Hope you're having a great one!

Red Team - Week 1

while we are waiting for our gps files, we decided to update! besides being very cold, last week was really fun. we worked with aaryn, brett, and tom. five people can make a plot very fast! on wednesday night we had to snuggle in the car because it was so cold, and now sarah has a cold. it was a smug free week.

Dynamic map

Figured out how to embed Google Earth on the blog. Pretty cool....

Good Greasy Grub, and Divine Desert Destinations

Here are a few photos from our first week and some random beta for those of you hitting up the Kofa/Quartzsite area.

In the middle of Nowhere on 95, about 25 miles south of Quartzite, is a funny little food stand that serves, as you can see, a generous greasy 10 pound block of curly fries to the passerby. You can also find there date shakes, buffalo burgers, alligators with bobbly heads, and old western romance novels.

The sunset photo is from Palm Canyon road in Kofa, a great place to camp on desert pavement (last photo is of our camp). Kofa has convenient primitive camping everywhere . . . down almost any dirt road you can find desert pavement pull-offs where folks have camped before . . . though we especially liked the view here at Palm Canyon. And you can have a campfire! (Firewood is for sale at the "Big Market" in Quartzsite . . . though locals advise not to buy food there as they turn off their coolers at night :). There is another decent market for food re-supply in Quartzsite . . . and if you are wanting to shop for that new RV that you've been saving up for, THIS IS THE PLACE.

The 4th photo is a shot of our favorite subplot . . . on top of a cinder cone. The beautiful 360 view was the reward for doing 4 other subplots on the 30 degree sloping sides of it.

Happy Trails!

and one more photo of real treasure: Castela emoryi, well named Crucifixtion Thorn

Successes so far

I've had a chance to touch base with most of you post-sampling. I thought I'd share what we know about the effort so far. Below is an image of plots we've already sampled (not including Joe's just yet - I'm still waiting to hear back from him). If you have Google Earth on your machine, and want to view the living document, click here for a link to the KML on our Google docs page.

We've done a pretty good job of sampling across the study area over this time period, which is awesome! I wanted to let you know I'm back at work and can help you guys plan your next work period when you're ready for it. I also wanted to thank everybody for their patience and support when I got sick. For those of you who weren't there to see it, I passed out just off-plot under the sun. Thanks Julie and Sarah for moving the sick boy.

Week 1 Phoenix-Tonto Briefing

Greetings fellows and fellettes of the desert. Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was windy. Yes, the 4X4 roads were very heinous. Yes, tents were flapping voraciously in the bitter night wind. Yes, our first plot was very much off a cliff into the Agua Fria Canyon. And yes, finally, on the morning of the 3rd day, we finished a plot!!!

ALERT!! it was plot 1488, an alternate, please note this and take 1488 off your list. Thanks...

We encountered many plants. The first plot was west of interstate 17 in the upper sonoran zone, and the flora there was markedly different than our second plot NE of Phoenix at McDowell Mtn Regional Park. (we got 1 plot done there). we found that biomass clipping, which we had at least 1 point at every subplot in both plots, took a pretty long time. we encountered red brome at both areas and at McDowell we encountered Schizmus barbatus as well. The picture below shows several schizmus's, very rich green, already producing seeds, and at times forming thick carpets of lush desert lawn.

FOR THE PLANT LIST FROM OUR WEEK CLICK HERE!!!

Who says it gets cold in the desert?

I'm trying to picture Tasya's and Nat's tents if they had stayed at Estrella Mountain Park another night...

This photo was taken just east of Phoenix at a golf course at about 1750 ft elevation.

Day 1: 1 plot. Warning from campsite hosts that sprinklers might reach our tents.

Day 2: 2 plots.

6:00pm: Return to camp, 1 tent down and broken from heinously strong, cold winds. Tasya cooks dinner in frigid temps. We both retreat early to bed.

9:30: Nat wakes Tasya up with loud swearing. Tasya helps Nat move tent out of fire hose strength water sprinklers onto road. Tasya's tent dry and safe.

9:50: Tasya wakes Nat up swearing. Nat offers to help Tasya move now wet tent. Tasya, defeated, brings sleeping bag to car to wait out sprinklers.

9:50: Nat and Tasya laughing uncontrolably

10:20: sprinklers stop soaking tent.

10:30: Tasya returns to wet tent

Day 3

10:20-6:30 am: Tasya and Nat listen to wind blowing tents over sideways and feel tents walls hitting our bodies throughout the night.

6:30: Nat wakes up and takes down tent with one foot inside so tent won't blow away noticing large rip in the bottom from pulling it out the sprinklers the day before

7:00: Tasya and Nat in coffee shop:)

7:00 - 4:00: Many wrong turns, dead ends and private property signs later we victoriously discover the correct road to the beautiful wilderness area and finish a plot wearing winter gear.

6 pm: Nat and Tasya hear 20 degree forecast for the evening and decide Super 8 Quartzite sucks, but wet sleeping pads suck more. YAY hotel!

***Camper advisory: Do not place tents on the lawn of Estrella Mountain Park****

Day 4:

Plot location: 3.5 km from hotel. We're walking!

Desert rat field trip spring 2010

Look what happens when they send us out on our own...

Day 2

Plots completed: 0.4

Flat tires: 1