Unit 37B Water Catchment Project

[CouesWhitetail]

Unit 37B - North 96 Hills Water Development Project – Volunteers Needed

 

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is requesting your assistance to help build a wildlife water catchment on the weekend of March 12-14th. We will be constructing a new water development in the 96 Hills in Game Management Unit 37B for wildlife, and we would greatly appreciate your help. We will be camping out close to the project site on Friday and Saturday nights (March 12th and 13th). Assistance would be greatly appreciated on Friday and/or Saturday if possible, even if you can only help for a day. Dinner will be provided on Saturday night for those who would like to relax around the campfire after a hard days work. Children are welcome.

 

What to bring: Hat, sunscreen, gloves, water and food (except for Saturday night) and a cordless drill if possible.

 

Directions: Maps attached.

 

From Tucson - Take Oracle Rd (Hwy 77) north to Oracle Jct. Go Left (west) on Hwy 79 toward Florence. Turn Right (east) at MP 119 on the 96 Ranch Rd. Drive east approximately 2.7 miles then turn left (north) and go approximately 2.2 miles until the road spits again. Take the right (east) fork and follow the signs from here.

 

From Phoenix – Take Highway 60 east to Florence Junction. Go south on Highway 79 and go through the town of Florence like you are heading toward Tucson. Turn left (east) at MP 119 on the 96 Ranch Rd. Drive east approximately 2.7 miles then turn left (north) and go approximately 2.2 miles until the road spits again. Take the right (east) fork and follow the signs from here.

 

Contact: If you are interested in helping out, please contact Ben Brochu at (520) 229-3222 or bbrochu@azgfd.gov for more information. Please RSVP if possible so I know how many people to cook for – Thanks.

[tjhunt2]

Thought I would bring this back up since there were no replies to your post here Amanda. It was about this time last year that some of us helped on a similar project in the same area. For those of you that haven't helped on one of these projects I can assure you you will go away feeling good about yourself for helping out something so worthwhile for the wildlife in the area. Not to speak of the free meal the g&f will provide for you on saturday night. Last year Ben cooked tortilla soup that was to die for. To be able to sit around a camp fire at the end of a hard days work and share conversation with fellow hunters, Amanda, and g&f employees was the highlite of last years project for me.

 

Amanda, maybe you could post a few pictures of last years project if you still have the photos.

 

Is anyone planning on going?

 

TJ

[NRS]

I am planning on being there with my son. These projects are a great way to see how all of the money raised from the special tags get put out on the ground to benefit wildlife.

[CouesWhitetail]

A few pics. I hope to see some of you at the project. Wear your CW.com shirts if you have them!!

 

[Jeremy350]

I will be out there again this year on Sat. probably going to bring my younger cousin out and try to get him involved.

[NRS]

Be there with my son, I have already RSVP'd with Ben for some of his Tortilla soup.

[Pixman]

Myself and an old friend(70 yrs old) will be there Friday to help out! I am busy Saturday so we can't stay. See you guys there!

[HD Trophy Hunts]

I will be flying out of town thursday but is there anything you guys need in the way of supplies or tools or anything like that?

 

I just found out about this and would like to help any way I can. Thanks

Mike

 

 

[NRS]

We had a great time out there Saturday, and there is just a little finish work to be done today. Here are some pictures of the project.

 

Tanks in the ground

busy workers, how many CWT members can you spot?

Learning how to do finish work.

Admiring all of the animal tracks in the cement, include the big one with 5 fingers.

There was even a CWT.com sticker sighting there thanks to Great White. My son enjoyed discussing the differences in our Foxpro callers with him at lunch time. There are also going to be more stickers on trucks after Amanda arrived with some in time for Ben's great tortilla soup that was enjoyed be all.

[CouesWhitetail]

It was a fun project. I wasn't able to get there until Sat night, and most of the work was done by then. But at least I got to meet some CW.com'ers and some other folks. Thanks to Ben Brochu for his always generous feeding of the volunteers with his excellent chicken tortilla soup and wonderful breakfast burritos in the morning!

 

This project was the 3rd of 7 planned water projects in 37B. Ben has been working hard to make sure there is a good distribution of water in some very good deer habitat. I am sure there will be opportunities in the future for those of you who want to help on other water project. It's a great way to help wildlife and get out and enjoy some time with others who share your passion.

 

here is a fun sticker sighting at the project! That's the water buffalo that is used to haul some water.

 

 

 

 

this project has some different features than the other water projects Ben did last year. This one was designed with a small dam in the drainage feeding into the area. The water is collected there and then fed into a pipe which connects to a concrete box that is used to help settle sediment out of the water before it goes into the main tanks which are underground. There is also the standard tin covering over the tanks that catches rainfall and that is fed down into the tanks. Then the entire system is setup to put water into the wildlife drinker.

 

 

dam in the creek:

 

 

box to catch the dirt:

 

 

tin over the tanks:

 

 

drinker getting filled. the water flows out of the drinker and into the underground tanks so they are getting filled also:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my friends came out to the project too. My friend Bonnie brought her young daughter Annie who wanted to go jackrabbit hunting. So we all went out in the desert around the project area and although we saw a couple, we didn't come home with any. Annie attended one of the AGFD jackrabbit camps and shot many jackrabbits and they enjoyed eating them, so she is on fire to get more. It was a pleasure hunting with her. Some pics:

 

Bonnie and Annie at the project:

 

 

Annie hunting:

 

 

[stanley]

VERY cool Amanda!!! Thanks a bunch for posting the pics! I grew-up on the north side of 37B, and I MUST get out to one of those projects someday!! I'm hoping to join the 36 Ranch clean-up this weekend if possible though....

 

Good work to all who were there!!!!!

 

S.