From Truchas TU: 2 Events this week

[tubase at cybermesa.com]

There are two events this week we would like to bring to your attention:

October 19th:
This opportunity is open to the public:

Thursday, October 19 • 8:30am – dusk • Vegetation Clipping in two Long-term
Riparian Exclosures • Rio San Antonio
  The Rio San Antonio is on the Preserve’s north side – a 40-minute drive
through the Preserve. It is a part of the Preserve that is not visible from
the Highway.
   The Trust has six big exclosure sets that straddle streams. Each set
includes three 160-meter-square units – one enclosed by an 8-foot fence to
keep both cattle and elk out; one enclosed by a 4-foot barbed wire fence to
keep just cattle out, and one staked out but unfenced and therefore accessible
to both cattle and elk. The Trust is monitoring vegetation, insects, rodents,
water quality, stream-bank geomorphology... within these exclosures, to
document any differences in how they respond to the different levels of
protection from cattle and elk. (Grasshoppers and rodents... still have access
to it all.)
   Volunteers completed four of the six exclosures on October 11-12. This
week, volunteers will help the Trust’s summer field crew clip 1-meter plots at
the remaining two exclosure sites in the San Antonio), sorting green from dry
vegetation, but we don’t need to know species.... Sign up on your own, or
bring friends you’d like to spend the day with.
   It is not possible to work a partial day. Volunteers commit to the whole day.
   The riparian areas are, by definition, wet and soggy, so bring waterproof
shoes and leggings. Mornings, the vegetation will be frosty. It can snow and
sleet at any time now. (It can also keep being exceptionally beautiful and
warm in that high strong sun.)
   Volunteers should arrive by 8:15am at the Valle Grande Staging Area, two
miles inside the main entrance (Route 4, mile 39.2). There is a good map,
directions to the Preserve’s main gate, on the Trust’s web site
(www.vallescaldera.gov).

To sign up, contact Bob Parmenter and/or Will Barnes (wjbarnes at earthlink.net •
982-8748 • cell 470-1870). Both are in the field a lot, but will return your
email or phone call to confirm.

    Dr. Robert R. Parmenter
    Chief Scientist
    Office: 428-7727
    Cell: 699-6203
    bparmenter at vallescaldera.gov

October 22:
The Valles Caldera Coalition is hosting a book-signing event at the Randall
Davey Audubon Center on Sunday afternoon, October 22, 4:00pm, for Valles
Caldera: A Vision for New Mexico’s National Preserve, by Bill deBuys and Don
Usner (see attachment).

Please come help us host this gathering! And invite others.

The event will begin with a panel discussion about the book and panelists’
vision for the Preserve today, opening into an audience discussion of your
visions, why you lobbied for creation of the Preserve, what it could be, the
best role the public can play, the value of open public lands and the wildlife
they support....

Panelists are:

    * Bill deBuys (author, the first trustees for Cultural and Natural
History, and Chair of the VCT Board 2001-05),
    * Don Usner (author and professional photographer, VCT’s professional
photographer),
    * David Yepa (the First VCT trustee for State and Local Governments
2001-05, from Jemez Pueblo),
    * Jeff Cross (VCT Executive Director May 2006-present),
    * Craig Allen (the first, interim Preserve Scientist 2001-03, and USGS
Jemez Region ecologist stationed at Bandelier).


We also invited Palemon Martinez (the first trustee for Livestock Management),
but he hasn’t responded yet.

The moderator will be Lucy Moore (professional facilitator and the Trust’s
facilitator for its first “Listening Sessions,” back in early 2001).