welcome clarice ford! - oteroswcd.org · page 4 current swcd board of supervisors: bill mershon,...
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Page 4
Current SWCD Board of Supervisors:
Bill Mershon, Chairman
Rick Baish, Vice Chairman
Jeff Rabon, Secretary/Treasurer
Eddie Vigil, Supervisor
Bob Nichols, Supervisor
Thomas Mendez, Supervisor
James Evrage, Supervisor
NRCS Staff:
Sam Gutierrez, Soil Conservationist
Clarice Ford, Range Management Specialist
Leslie Tiley, NMACD Soil Con. Technician
John Hartung, Area Range Mgt. Specialist
FSA Staff:
Lynn Muncy, County Executive Director
Carol Ruiz, Program Technician
District Employee:
Victoria Milne, District Manager
The USDA Alamogordo Service Center will be closed:
May 25th - Memorial Day and July 3rd for the Observance of Independence Day
Otero Soil and Water Conservation District
3501 Mesa Village Dr. Alamogordo, NM 88310
District board meetings are generally, the
first Wednesday of each month at 9:30 am.
The meetings are held in the same building,
in the Forest Service's conference room
located at 3463 Las Palomas Dr.
OTERO SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
2015
3501 Mesa Village Drive, Alamogordo, NM 88310 (575) 437-3100 x 3
The Otero SWCD Noxious Weed Program
begins April 13th.
Herbicide quantities are limited. Please call ahead for price and availability.
The Alamogordo Field Office has a new NRCS Rangeland Management
Specialist. Clarice Ford started working here in February.
Clarice is a graduate of NMSU,
worked on a ranch in Hope, NM, then
she worked with US Forest Service
on the Mark Twain National Forest in
Ava, MO before she headed to Datil
in January of 2012 to start her career
with the Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service.
She is excited to have the opportunity
to work out of the Alamogordo Field
Office, because she was born and
raised in the area. She is looking for-
ward to assisting the producers in
Otero County.
Inside this issue:
NM Tech
Watershed
Study
2
Noxious Weed
Highlight -
Musk Thistle
3
Welcome Clarice Ford!
USDA is an equal opportunity employer, provider, and lender.
We are online! Check us out on the web @ oteroswcd.org/ Page 2
This report summarizes progress on the watershed study on the Coleman Ranch
property since the quarterly project report of January 2015. As this project is coming
to an end, we have begun removing instruments from the study site. Trevor Kludt
visited the field site in April to download data and remove equipment. The weir in
Cotton Canyon was removed in its entirety. All tipping bucket rain gauges were also
removed. We will remove the remainder of the equipment, including weather sta-
tions and soil moisture sensors in the next couple of weeks. We plan on leaving data
loggers in the three monitoring wells on site.
We are on track to deliver a final report by June 30, 2015. This report will present
all the different data collected over the last seven years, along with interpretations and
implications for the use of tree thinning as a means to increase the water supply in the
Sacramento Mountains. This report, which will be published as a NMBGMR Open
File Report, will not include a description of the watershed-scale modeling of the soil
water balance. We will continue working on this model and plan on adding it to the
report at a later date. The addition of the model will allow us to publish this work as
a higher level publication that will have undergone an extensive peer review process.
In general, we have found that tree thinning in the Sacramento Mountains: 1)
increases the amount of precipitation (both rain and snow) that reaches the ground,
2) decreases net evapotranspiration (soil water evaporation and water used by vege-
tation), 3) does not significantly change the amount surface runoff, and 4) Increases
the amount of water that infiltrates through soils to potentially recharge the local
groundwater system. However, it cannot be predicted with certainty that tree thin-
ning on a large scale at high elevations in the Sacramento Mountains will significantly
increase the regional groundwater supply because of the complexity of the karstic
groundwater system.
If there are any questions or comments please contact Talon Newton at 575-835-
6668 or [email protected].
Sacramento Mountains Watershed Study
Progress Report, April 2015
Sacramento Mountains Hydrogeologic Studies
Find the most current reports online at:
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/resources/water/amp/
projects/Southern_Sacramentos.html
Page 3
Otero SWCD Noxious
Weed Program Guidelines
Requirements for
participation are:
1. Resident of Otero County
2. Current Private
Applicators License
3. Presence of a Otero County
Noxious Weed
4. Approval to map noxious
weeds
5. Coordinate plan for treatment
6. Follow-up after treatment
Otero County
Noxious Weed List
African Rue
Hoary Cress
Leafy Spurge
Malta Star-thistle
Musk Thistle
Russian Knapweed
Diffuse Knapweed
Yellow Toadflax
Yellow Star-thistle
Dalmatian Toadflax
Spotted Knapweed
Purple Loosestrife
Purple Star-thistle
Camelthorn
Scotch Thistle
Canada Thistle
Teasel
Perennial Pepperweed
Halogenton
Musk thistle is a biennial weed over taking mountain properties in Otero County. According to NMSU’s weed fact sheet, Musk thistle is a dark green tap-rooted plant that can grow from 2 to 6 feet tall. As a biennial, Musk this-tle forms rosettes in the fall, develop-ing a large, fleshy taproot by spring (Whitson 1991). The weed reproduces and spreads by seed. Seed production has been re-ported as high as 100,000 seeds/plant, but can vary depending on habitat conditions (Beck 1999). It is suggested that Musk thistle seeds may remain viable in soil for 10 - 15 years or more.
Flowers are found at the tips of shoots, and are 1.5 to 3 inch-es in diameter. Flower color is usually deep rose, but can range to white. Bracts located below the flower petals, are spine-tipped and resemble a pinecone (Lym and Christianson 1996). Flower heads tend to droop or nod. Musk thistle is typ-ically a biennial, but it may complete its life cycle as an annual. Successful management of Musk thistle prevents seed produc-tion and enhances competition from desirable perennial vege-tation. Combining control methods in an integrated manage-ment system will result in the best long-term management. Prevention and early detection, are the most cost-effective strategies for managing Musk thistle. Maintaining a healthy stand of desirable vegetation will resist Musk thistle establish-ment, since seed-lings are sensitive to intense competition, especially for light (Hull and Evans 1973).
Noxious Weed Highlight