Aspen Thies, Zach Farley, Nicole Luna, and Dalton Thrantham
Watershed Restoration Crew - Borderlands Restoration Network
Patagonia, AZ
November 4, 2024
The shaded canopy of mesquite trees overshadows a dry stream bed as the desert sun shines down the crisp morning. We are in the Sky Islands region. I walk with careful steps, my arms hugged around a gathering of carefully selected rocks picked from the adjacent hillside. Over the thorn bush I step, my calves hugged snugly in a comforting manner by my snake gaiters, down I step dumping my load into a selected bit of stream bed, my arms feel relief from the weight. A pile of rocks grows, and with the direction of Nicole we begin passing and stacking the rocks one by one into and across the stream bed. We are building a one rock dam structure, a type of erosion control structure serving as a physical barrier to slow water as it moves over the earth surface.
Erosion control is one of many programs at Borderlands Restoration Network, a non-profit in the southern Arizona border region working to rebuild healthy ecosystems, restore habitat, and reconnect communities to the land through environmental learning. We met with Zach Farley, Aspen Thies, Nicole Luna, and Dalton Trantham as part of the watershed restoration program. This dynamic crew spends their days building structures in the field working with other non-profits, government and state agencies, and individuals in order to repair and protect landscapes. Since the inception of the watershed sector of Borderlands Restoration Network 4,000 erosion control structures have been installed across South Eastern Arizona improving hydrologic function and soil conditions to enhance wildlife habitat and recharge shallow groundwater tables.
by Cameron Collister