Part 2 Not knowing what we would find in this bruised landscape we began our surveys in the Big Maria Mountains. Bighorn may not be permanent residents here, but past records suggest they occasionally passed through this range on their way to the Colorado River. No one has really looked for bighorn here since 2009, until we showed up. At first, we only found debris left behind by humans (a common theme, everywhere we went). This range was home to 242 mines over the years, 11 still active. You do your best to avoid bias in these surveys, but you can’t help but be a little disappointed when you come up empty-handed. You know the immediate dopamine rush you get when you find what you’re looking for? Well, we just happen to be looking for wildlife feces, and we get really excited about finding it. Nearing our final routes of the Big Marias, Christina finds a spot in the soil that looks as if an animal had bed down, and next to it, some fecal pellets. She’s pretty confident it came from a bighorn sheep! (Later on, the DNA we extracted from the collected pellets confirms Christina’s id). At least occasional use of the range is still taking place. After a much-needed rest weekend and field shower (which is just a Nalgene bottle bath) we moved just west of the Big Maria’s to start on the Little Maria Mountains. The Little Marias seemed to lack bighorn by the 1970s, but in 2009, appeared recently colonized from the nearby Granite/Palen range. Did the new colonists make it? Every route surveyed here showed signs of bighorn! We found bedding sites, a variety of pellets, and even lamb-sized pellets, which indicate a resident and reproducing population. This range had several seasonal water sources and likely could sustain a small number of sheep in the absence of drought. It looks to us like some bighorn still call this place home. South from the Little Marias are the McCoy Mountains. Within the Palen McCoy Wilderness boundary there were approximately 10,000 mining clams, over 2000 still considered active. Similar to the Little Marias, the McCoy’s were thought to have only a few bighorn left in 1946 that disappeared by 1970. A few later observations hinted at occasional bighorn visitors. Along the steep and rocky ridgelines, dodging mining debris and ocotillo spines, we found pellets and bedding sites, though not many. With all the bighorn sign concentrated along the spine of the mountain, we suspect a group of rams recently passed through here once or twice. Last up to survey - the Riverside Mountains. These mountains may have never housed resident bighorn during the 20th century (Weaver & Mensch 1971; Wehausen et al. 1987). Few field observations are on record to suggest even transient use. At first, the Riversides were looking void of bighorn sign, but we started in fairly rolling hills more suited to deer. We saw plenty of pellets, but our field IDs matched the DNA in the lab – all deer. Once we got higher in elevation and the terrain became a little harder to navigate, we began finding bighorn sign: pellets, and bedding sites atop large cliff sides. We extracted DNA from 7 unique individuals from our samples – almost as many as the Little Marias. So bighorn use this range to some degree, but how much? They have reasonable access to the Colorado River, though agriculture and development seems to have complicated that. Can these mountains support a population? It will likely take further surveys to know for sure. By the end of the trip, we had encountered every form of weather: rain, snow, sunshine, and the awful windstorms. The wind was by far the worst. The walls of my tent would hit me in the face, and the sound became maddening after several days. One of my tent poles even snapped in the middle of the night. Wind makes everything infinitely more difficult like cooking dinner or trying to set up a tent. By the end of the trip, I had tried nearly every tent placement strategy possible. You could find me in ditch, inside of trees like a fort, or using food bins and boulders to fortify a wall around my tent. Anything to escape that terrible wind. I was fortunate to have embarked on this journey with someone who maintained a positive attitude and sense of humor regardless of what conditions we would encounter. “At least we’re still camping!,” we screamed against the sound-drowning roar of the wind pushing us the opposite direction of the steady march toward the mountain. On a personal note, this is still one of the coolest things I have ever done, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! I learned more about ecology and conservation in those couple of months than my years of education. It was an incredible opportunity to spend so much time with an ecologist who couldn’t escape my never-ending questions even if she tried! Not only did we find evidence of bighorn, but we also got to look deeper at an area with a bizarre past, and uncertain future. The desert slowly reclaims what’s been left behind, but dilapidated structures, rusted barbed wire, shell casings, the occasional unexploded ordinance, and faint lines of tank tracks blemish the bajadas and can be seen throughout the surrounding mountains. Many mountains gained BLM Wilderness status in the 90’s protecting a combined 346,169 acres. The region is still used for outdoor recreation, and designated OHV roads allow a closer look for desert and history-enthusiasts alike. Increasingly, solar fields and other present and future developments dissect this expanse of desert habitat. We wonder how easy it will be for bighorn to travel the paths we crossed on our surveys in the future. Although it is easy to overlook this patch of desert as it has been blown up and carved into, our surveys show that this is still valuable habitat and bighorn are attempting to use to it. We have shown that this survey works and are collaborating with land management agencies to implement these tactics and make data-informed decisions about the landscape. I feel great pride in the opportunity to contribute to this project. The good experiences far outweighed the tired feet and violent windstorms. Climbing beautiful mountains and enjoying that level of solitude, you get a slight insight of what it might be like to call this ecosystem home, and the sheer fortitude and resilience it takes to handle the ever-changing elements. Desert bighorn sheep have a rough road ahead of them, it’s up to us to make informed decisions on how to best protect these landscapes. Links and ResourcesHistoric California Posts: California/Arizona Maneuver Area (militarymuseum.org) Palen Pass Historical Marker (hmdb.org) Mining In Big Maria Mountains Wilderness | The Diggings™ Big Maria Mountains Wilderness | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov) Palen/McCoy Wilderness | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov) Rice Valley Wilderness | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov) Historic California Posts: California/Arizona Maneuver Area (militarymuseum.org) Weaver, R. A., and J. L. Mensch. 1971. Bighorn sheep in northeastern Riverside County. Wildlife management administrative report 71–1. California Department of Fish and Game, Sacramento.
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