Sierra Club Leads Torreon Wash Clean-up

Sept 2009 - The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club awarded the Rio Puerco Alliance a $14,000 grant and provided volunteer assistance for Torreon Wash clean-up. The first collaborative effort, between the Sierra Club and the Ojo Encino Chapter of the Navajo Nation, to clean-up Torrean Wash took place this past weekend.

Adventure called. The food, water, and snacks for the weekend were stowed in my trusty Honda Civic, as were camping gear, emergency medicine kit, flagging tape, maps, signs, sign-up sheets, check lists, newsletters, schedules, and volunteer lists – and snacks, especially snacks. After months of anticipation, I was headed north on Highway 550 to Cuba. The Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter (RGC) camping and volunteer work weekend at Ojo Encino on Torreon Wash was underway.

The RGC has been active for years as a member of the congressionally mandated Rio Puerco Management Committee, charged with restoring the Rio Puerco watershed, the third worst in the world for sediment loading. More recently, the Chapter gave the Rio Puerco Alliance a $14,000 grant and offered to help provide volunteer assistance for one of their federal grants. This weekend, the first collaborative effort between RGC and the Ojo Encino (Navajo) Chapter, was also my first large volunteer event as a new RGC staffer. I was excited.

Spectacular sandstone formations and rifts from upheavals in the earth’s crust long ago bedazzle on the 2 ½ hour drive from Bernalillo to the Chapter House. Cabezon Peak and neighboring smaller volcanic structures stand sentry to the area’s numerous badlands and mesas. You can choose: take the scenic road to San Luis/Torreon, following solitary roads to Ojo Encino, or continue to Cuba and head west on Highway 197. The time is about the same. Either way, you’ve left the city for a different geologic era and open sky.

At the Chapter House, a Sierra Club sign and map to the camping site were tacked to the outside bulletin board and flagging began with yellow, pink, and white tape from the Rio Puerco BLM office streaming from signs, bushes, and trees to announce the way. Two intrepid volunteer campers, Becky and Laurie, found me along the route and joined in the flagging. Watson Castillo, member of the Ojo Encino Ranchers’ Committee and point man for the Rio Puerco Management Committee’s activities in the area, came by in his pickup and guided our flagging to the camp.

The stunning camping area, on a mesa with ancient ponderosa pines and picturesque sandstone formations overlooking Ojo Encino eight miles away, belongs to Watson’s relatives. He and his son, Weston, had spent the morning hauling an industrial-sized trash container and a port-a-potty to the worksite and another potty to the campsite. Watson had also escorted volunteers Nancy and Howard to camp earlier in the afternoon, and their large new tent and fire welcomed those arriving later. After sundown, campers settled in to admire the night sky, luminous with innumerable stars spectacularly visible without city light to interfere.

On Saturday morning, Roger Toledo, President of the Ojo Encino Chapter, formally welcomed us to the weekend orientation. His generosity in opening the Chapter House during the weekend and his continuing involvement were deeply appreciated by everyone. Barbara Johnson, Executive Director of the Rio Puerco Alliance; Steve Fischer, BLM representative to the Rio Puerco Management Committee; Maureen Murphy, Executive Director of Hub RC&D, an affiliate of the Department of Agriculture’s National Resource Conservation Service; and Michael Di Rosa, Sierra Club outings leader, joined us for the day. Jerry, Satsuki, Susan, and Cameron, volunteers who had spent the night in Cuba, met us at the Chapter House. Rochelle Vandever, an engineering senior at NM State University (NMSU) who grew up at Ojo Encino and managed the summer student program this year, and Weston Castillo, who handles much of the heavy machinery and does road work, also participated. Introductions were made, outings papers signed, and muffins munched, courtesy of Barbara and Steve.

Watson told us about the seven major programs underway at Ojo Encino to restore Torreon Wash and detailed progress made by the Ojo Encino Ranchers’ Committee and the Rio Puerco Management Committee. He welcomed us as the first volunteer group to work at Ojo Encino, made sure we all had work gloves, and headed us out to the worksite.

The pictures tell the story. The ridge was cleared. We filled the trash container and ran out of bags! Michael specialized in hauling really big stuff up from the ravine. All the men and some of the women became pros at pitching the heavy bags up over side of the container. Everyone took an area and went at it. A shrine of small, found toys slowly grew. Water was consumed, breaks were encouraged with fruit and snack bars, and the temperature rose. It was dusty, dirty work. Belinda Yazzie and Watson surprised us with lunch: sandwiches and drinks for everyone! While relaxing in the shadow of the container after a great meal, Rochelle told us about the student summer program, Barbara told us about the Rio Puerco Alliance, and Maureen told us about the Hub RC&D. Steve and Watson took pictures and kept us laughing. After a few more hours of hard work, it was time to return to the Chapter House and get ready for dinner.

Aided by his girlfriend Beverly, Roger had prepared a traditional pork stew with squash, beans for vegetarians, chili, and fry bread. Most of the volunteers spent time in the kitchen watching fry bread being made from scratch! The Sierra Club rounded out the meal with salads, dessert, and appetizers.

Oh, did I mention the Chapter House had showers? Hallelujah! Watson gave the blessing in Navajo and, the dirt washed off, no one was shy about going back for seconds.

Near the end of the meal, in thanks for Ojo Encino Chapter’s welcome and to support and encourage its many programs to restore Torreon Wash, the Sierra Club and the Rio Puerco Alliance presented the Ojo Encino Chapter and the Ojo Encino Ranchers’ Committee with a projector for PowerPoint and DVD presentations at their meetings. The Ranchers’ Committee has made a number of high-quality PowerPoint presentations, which they give at BLM, Rio Puerco Management Committee, Rio Puerco Alliance, and their own meetings, but until now they have had to borrow BLM projectors. The new projector also enables them to make presentations to other Navajo Chapters and groups interested in learning about their programs.

On Saturday night Norma McCallan, Vice Chair of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, joined us as outings leader and we said goodbye to Michael, who returned to Los Alamos after a very full day. Many thanks, Michael, for taking care of splinters and for all you did to make Saturday such a success! And welcome, Norma.

On Sunday we met again at the Chapter House for coffee, muffins, and pie and to learn about arroyo restoration. After Watson’s review of the work plan, we moved rock to pickup trucks with Roger, Watson, Rochelle, Weston, and Orlando Yazzie. Our destination was a plain below the ridge we’d cleaned up the day before, and three headcuts that needed restoration.

Once there, Rochelle demonstrated how to move dirt at the top of the headcut (a steep gully), creating a shallow bowl to be seeded with grass and covered by rock tightly fitted together with the biggest stones at the bottom. She explained that when the next rain comes, silt will fill in the spaces between the rocks like cement and anchor them, encouraging soil buildup rather than silt runoff. Over the summer the students she supervised built over 180 such structures. Volunteers started digging, unloading rock, and arranging it. Before long the first headcut was remediated, the trucks went back for more rock, and eventually all three headcuts were restored. Then Rochelle showed us how to make a one rock dam below one of the headcuts. Watson kept us going, took pictures, and joined us for snacks. It was hard work, and water and snack breaks were encouraged. Finally, about 1:30, it was finished. Last pictures were taken, farewells exchanged, and we all headed out.

Watson went to join two young Ojo Encino Chapter members being trained by BLM on special software to take readings for Rio Puerco river monitors set up in Torreon Wash. Rochelle headed back to NMSU, and volunteers started home across the glorious landscape. As expected, we’d left only footprints and not too many of those. The wind rustled in the pines. The view was clear west to the horizon, and the Ojo Encino water tower, newly painted, rose like a sentinel above the Chapter House in the middle distance.

I left feeling grateful for our volunteers and grateful for our partners at the Ojo Encino Chapter. Love for the land brought us all together, and shared memories warmed our spirits. I’m happy to say ideas are already brewing for us to join the community next year.

Want to get involved? For more information, contact 505-983-2703 or riogrande.chapter@sierraclub.org – Margaret Gray