06/05/2026
Another big week at Wildcat 😁
We've had lots of campers, and some field trips from the Warford Center - good times by all! It's easier to have fun out there when it rains, and we got some. About an inch, on top of the ~1.2 we received the prior weekend.
We want more but it's done wonders kick-starting the growing season. Up till 2ish weeks ago, the only green out there was the mesquite and along the riparian corridors. Now, we've grass & forbs coming up - and some squash in the garden.
To our surprise, the rain was enough to activate the West Branch of the W Amarillo Creek tributary that runs thru our valley. We didn't catch it as it was flowing, but there's gobs of evidence, a whole lot of debris, and some standing water.
The leaky dams, a landscape rehydration demonstration project with retained & sunk a whole bunch of runoff. Exacerbated perhaps by parched soils & a large burn area upstream (the Stinky). Lots of stormwater flowed onto the property & very little ran off. Woot!
Finally, the old pond aka Berg's Spring up near HQ has needed attention for years. The old configuration required lots of water just to compensate for evaporation & leakage, especially during late summer dry spells. It disconnected the soil from the atmosphere.
So, we decided to remove the padding & liner, re-arrange the big boulders and install a smaller pond liner that's hard & self contained. It's a big job and we made a big dent in it. 3/4 of the old liner is out and the new one is levelled & in place. 💪
Huge thanks to the awesome volunteers & support from United Way for the Day Of Caring (rescheduled to today), and a handful from the Community Resilience Corp (fka WT AmeriCorp) - and a skid loader from Sunbelt Rentals. It's a big job.
Happy Friday!
