NMVFO volunteers gathered for a long weekend of habitat restoration. Los Luceros offered us a professional kitchen, outdoor dining area, WIFI, and hot showers.
The site has historic buildings, an audio tour, churro sheep, friendly burros, and the Rio Grande.
An arborist on contract with FEMA was grinding/clearing brush and duff around stately cottonwood trees in the bosque using heavy equipment with a powerful macerator attachment, with the goal of protecting the trees from fire.
He asked us to clear brush and rake duff from cottonwoods to a distance of 5 feet, so his equipment did not have to get close to the cottonwoods and harm their roots, which tend to grow close to the surface.
Russian olives were thick and spiky, and we suffered an unusual March heat wave, but our crew persevered, and morale was high. Good project.