Red Team - Snow and Motor Cross

After our braggart post last week, we thought that we should remind you all that despite all the lovely amenities afforded us at the posh Sells Recreation Center, it is dry...as in no beer before dinner while watching the sun set after a long hard day of work. Last week, we would have traded the showers for beer.

As for the actual field work last trip, we were joined over the weekend by Sasha, clipper extraordinaire.

The three of us got to work in a less disturbed area which was a treat for us all, but the dust storm made the plots a little harrowing. Its only a few miles to the mountains in the 2nd photo. You could fly a kite, but you couldn't see it (the weather according to a gas station man).

The snow on the mountains the next day however was worth the scratched cornea Julie got. Saturday we also found our first Desert Tortoises--yes, plural, but also dead. Still it was interesting to see the carapaces and wonder what got them in the end.







Things remained interesting along the border. We worked in Cabeza Prieta Refuge one day and were promptly checked out by a helicopter hovering 100 ft from us and 20 ft off the ground. Guess the black garbage bag Sarah was carrying didn't look full enough to be problematic. While there Sarah was able to realize the her dream of a shorts plot.


The highlight however was on Thursday morning when a team of 5-7 BP on dirt bikes came zooming into our plot (sorry no pics) followed 2 minutes later by a lone dirt bike that died 50 ft East of our subplot and then 50 ft North of our subplot. Alvarez told us they were tracking a group of 12 UDAs through the area, and he knew about buffle grass!