Written by Foster Mellott, Wild Stew Field Crew Member.
We did it! This hitch, four of our crew members, Joe, Kile, Charlotte and I, bushwhacked down to the confluence of Fossil Creek and completed the finishing touches on a multi-year project we’ve been working on with Friends of the Verde River. We have finished the initial treatment of invasive species in Lower Fossil Creek!
This hitch started out just like the last couple of Fossil Creek hitches, with us crossing the Verde River and hiking to our campsite at the Confluence, where Fossil Creek runs into the Verde River. There are no trails leading to this spot so we had to follow a route we perfected over the last couple of hitches here. Even though it gets easier each time we hike it, it’s still a route full of thorns and uneven terrain. We were able to find camp on day two, set up and get ready for the work ahead of us.
Unlike the other times we’ve gone out to Fossil Creek, this hitch the invasives were few and far between. We had to search for the last remaining tamarisk that was hiding out in the jungle-like conditions of the creek below the narrows. We spent most of the hitch, wading in water and being thorough in making sure we cleared the entire creek. This hitch we managed to cut about 150 tamarisk stems and about 950 arundo stems.
Although we didn’t cut as many stems as we have on previous hitches, the work was challenging this week because of how hard it is to navigate this section of the river. We constantly had to get our feet wet and our legs scratched up in order to find and reach the last remaining invasives on this creek. This was my third time out to the confluence and I can say that this was the hardest we’ve trudged so far and the proudest I’ve been of our work in Fossil Creek!
