In November it was again time to do our fall adopt a highway clean up. As usual we met at the Loves Truck Stop at 7am and car pooled from there to the site. WHIN had 9 members show up to help and the work went fast. You can really tell a difference to the highway when we are done. Per our custom, Breakfast was had at the Windmill in Alamo and then back to Love’s and then home.
WHIN had put the word out on social media and some phone calls, that help would be needed to complete the work in just one day. We had a great response to our call for help as there were 35 to 40 people that showed up to help! We had to figure out how to keep that great food from the Road Kill Grill warm all day as the work took place. Cindy Picardo and the Four Seasons Hotel came thru for us by letting us borrow a commercial grade warming cabinet so everything would be hot and ready at dinner time (Thanks Cindy). The Back Country Horsemen were there and ready to go when we pulled up to the staging area. A plan was quickly put together end everyone started up the mountain. It was a long day and work went on till dark. The last 3 off the mountain were Dave Czarneki, Don Nash, and BIG Jim Sage and his horse. Dinner was served as a buffet style and every one was pleased with our choice of food from the Road Kill Grill ( Thanks Chuck ). Thanks to EVERYONE that helped with this project, this work would never have gotten done if it weren’t for the Back Country Horsemen (Thanks Terry, Big Jim for your efforts).
At June’s monthly meeting we now had a date from the Back Country Horsemen, we would do the complete rebuild at the end of July. This would be the first upgrade since building the drinker system in 1992 and we were excited to see it get done. WHIN decided that we would supply a dinner after the work was completed and the food would be purchased from the Road Kill Grill. All supplies needed had been secured and we can’t wait for July to get here.
At WHIN’S monthly meeting in May a plan was devised to improve the McFarland drinker system by replacing and upgrading the drinkers from 30 gallon to 55 gallon with new floats and valves. Greg Clark found all the new improved floats and valves need to make the upgrades, and Bill Halverson located a good source to get the 55 gallon poly drums and then painted them in camo so they would blend into the landscape. Bill also located a good place to buy the rebar that would be needed to secure the drinkers in place. We new that this would be a huge undertaking to place the new drinkers and remove all the old drinkers so we called on our friends from the Back Country Horsemen. Terry Jones and Big Jim Sage said that they would be happy to pack everything in and out for us but they had a very busy schedule and would get back to us with a time they could help.
In May WHIN went to Pine Spring to check on the water flow and the condition of the stock tank, float and the water supply line. This spring has always been a low flow spring and the water flow was normal. The float was in good working order and so was the water trough and water line. Wild cattle have been a serious problem to this water source as they drink it dry and the flow can not keep up with the demand, so in the summer months the trough is dry and the deer that use it are suffering and dying because of the lack of water. These are wild cattle that should have been removed and were not. The State owns the cattle as they are not branded. There has been feeble attempts by the state to remove the cattle but no real effort has been put forth. Matt Flores of NDOW has been trying to get BLM’S blessing on putting up a steel pipe fence around the corral where the water trough sits to keep the cattle out but it would allow the deer access to the water. We will keep you informed of the progress on this.
WHIN returned to McFarland Spring to see how far the water had flowed to the other drinkers and to check for more leaks. There were several more leaks found and repaired between drinker 1 and 2. We the continued to check the rest of the line for damage to water supply line and to check the floats to make sure they were in working order. After checking the rest of the line for any issues we decided that we need to upgrade the drinkers from 30 gallon to 55 gallon drinkers and replace all floats and valves. This would take some planning and a lot of man power to get done. We scheduled to make a plan to proceed at our next meeting.
In early April WHIN went to McFarland Spring to turn on the water to our drinker system and check for leaks, water flow and float issues. There were many leaks between the spring head and drinker one. The water flow was very slow. All the leaks were fixed and water finally made it to drinker one. WHIN will have to come back in a week or two to check for leaks further down the line and bring our roto rooter to try to improve the water flow.
On March 20, 2015, WHIN went to Lincoln County to clean up the highway. With lots of help for the volunteers we cleaned the up the roadside and then had a delicious breakfast at the Windmill courtesy of WHIN. Great times and good food.
