Kelly Spring Maintenance
Hunter Canyon, Huachuca Mountains ~ Cochise County, Arizona
July 3rd, 2017
Activity Description:
On July 3rd, 2017 volunteers from the Huachuca Gould’s Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation got water flowing again into the wildlife drinker at Kelly Spring in the Huachuca Mountains. After re-connecting the collection tube at the spring and flushing the line, the storage tank down slope began quickly filling up. Shortly thereafter, water was available for wildlife at the drinker. The very evident sign of deer and javelina around the drinker meant that the water would soon be used.
Located in the north fork of Hunter Canyon, this habitat development taps into water from an abandoned mine. A several hundred foot pipe line carries the water to a storage tank. The tank in turn feeds water to a nearby metal drinker box.
The Chapter did extensive repairs (essentially re-building) to the development after damage from the Monument Fire of 2011 and subsequent erosion following several storms.
Tom Fuller, Wayne Kaiser, and Tom Deecken completed the necessary repairs on a hot, somewhat muggy morning. The work required packing in supplies and materials about .6 of a mile from the trailhead. Ugh!
A future work session will be planned to make more permanent repairs. Monitoring will continue until these modifications are made.
On July 3rd, 2017 volunteers from the Huachuca Gould’s Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation got water flowing again into the wildlife drinker at Kelly Spring in the Huachuca Mountains. After re-connecting the collection tube at the spring and flushing the line, the storage tank down slope began quickly filling up. Shortly thereafter, water was available for wildlife at the drinker. The very evident sign of deer and javelina around the drinker meant that the water would soon be used.
Located in the north fork of Hunter Canyon, this habitat development taps into water from an abandoned mine. A several hundred foot pipe line carries the water to a storage tank. The tank in turn feeds water to a nearby metal drinker box.
The Chapter did extensive repairs (essentially re-building) to the development after damage from the Monument Fire of 2011 and subsequent erosion following several storms.
Tom Fuller, Wayne Kaiser, and Tom Deecken completed the necessary repairs on a hot, somewhat muggy morning. The work required packing in supplies and materials about .6 of a mile from the trailhead. Ugh!
A future work session will be planned to make more permanent repairs. Monitoring will continue until these modifications are made.
001 Starting at the Source- Wayne Kaiser passing the business end of the plumbing snake to Tom Deecken at the entrance of the source of Kelly Spring. The collection tube was plugged.
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002 What’s Next?- Tom Deecken emerges from the old mine ready for more work.
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003 Re-connecting the Water Line- After flushing back to the spring source, the water line is re-connected. Water was soon flowing down to the storage tank and wildlife drinker at Kelly
Spring. Wayne Kaiser (left) and Tom Deecken make the connection.
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004 Overview of the Kelly Spring Site- This is how the spring site looked in early July of 2017. Compare this image to the next.
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005 Overview of the Kelly Spring Site in 2011- A similar view of the Kelly Spring source a few months after the Monument Fire of 2011. Quite a positive difference!
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006 Tidy Work at the Drinker- Once the drinker is full again, Tom Fuller does some house keeping.
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007 Mission Accomplished- With water now available for wildlife at Kelly Spring, Wayne Kaiser (left) and Tom Fuller are ready to head for home. Good work!
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Them boys look as proud as peacocks,
but a bigger thanks again goes to Tom Deecken for capturing the event and logging it into the archives. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Projects are a big part of our conservation efforts, you can call and volunteer for "a" project or as many as you feel like you want to be involved in. Come join us, as a volunteer and enjoy the country side as much as we do. Hope to see you soon! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |