Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Poudre WILDERNESS VOLUNTEERS...

 Arriving at Beaver Meadows on Thursday Sept. 20th, we were the only campers and the pair of Moose cow and bull were quite the surprise for Aragon and I. Their slow motion movements have affixiating qualities...I was wondering whether I would be well served to put a bell on the horse at night. But I did choose not to expose him to that.

The next day things looked just as sunny and glorious. The little creek running by the campsite and temps dropping below freezing made for a serene night experience. Then the cappucino with the rising sun was marvellous.

For over 10 years I have been a member of the Poudre Wilderness Volunteers, an associate volunteer organization for the Forest Service. My patrols extend through most of the Roosevelt National Forest here in Northern Colorado. The mounted patrol contentrates on highly traveled and used trails and we maintain communication between the Forest Service and the participating public. The work in the following years will shift to focus on burn and beetle kill. The land has suffered and a renewal has begun. Here are some images of our last 4 day camping trip and some of the grandiose fall riding.





Yes, the Toyota Landcruiser pulls the 32 foot airstream no problem...
Christine Churchill riding Aragon, Gabriele on board Coppersmith#900

Friday, August 24, 2012

of KITES AND DRAGONS...BIG SIX OH.

August 13, the day the wall was built in Berlin (1961) and now August 13, 2012...Things to do b4 you turn 60...Have your WILDfire, train a mustang for the Extreme Mustang Makeover, raise 7 Mustangs...Here are a couple of pictures from the gathering of friends that helped with the restoration of body land and soul disrupted by a powerful and quite destructive fire.
Strawbale house - the fortress - with wonderful sunset light...
It took 2 month for the land to look like this. And it looks similar inside the hearts of the people and animals that lived here...and or still live here.
Streamers and the unbearable lightness of being...(Photo Linda Bell)
 Thank you to my friends for celebrating and restoring. Stranger than paradise, indeed....

Reminders of our fragility

Linda Gresham Hanick (thank you for the photos)

Sunday, July 29, 2012

EMERALD ISLE after the fire - the GREEN...


It is about a month since the fire in the 12th filing...Two weeks after the fire the GREEN returned and the MEADOW looks like EMERALD, the Coppersmith is in 7th heaven and every day is amazing. Then the rains came, some people say, one month too late. I say: NOT SO, absolutely accepting what happened and embracing this wonderful event.

It has become quiet in the mountain, the sounds are of wind and animals and some vehicles, but much less.










Looking onto the POUDRE the fire coming up the gulch in short order burning down 60 buildings and acres of trees and green.


UNBELIEVABLE GREEN


Sunday, July 8, 2012

GVM MET b4 HPF

I will remember. Let the beauty of what you love be what you do...(RUMI)

I_C_E_L_A_N_D_

What is it that I love.? ICELAND? ORKNEY>>>NORTHERN LIGHTS

CAMP LE JUNE - the mustang camp at the sheep barn

And then at one point it is TIME TO LEAVE. And the 7 mustangs and I (plus the little cat) moved to the 70 acre pasture by the sheepbarn. (owned by a very generous and beautiful person) and then there was room to MOURN with VIGOR: for the little beloved dog, for the fire goods and for the ones who were less fortunate.



EVAC CAMP

The beautiful airstream always ready to save me from peril

Camp le June...three fires, Carlos Castaneda....

...how peculiar that the strawbale house stands amidst charred trees, shrub, houses and roads... I built a house of straw on a foundation of sand (the biblical no-no)...and three little pigs...Not even a kiss of the fire - not even the odor of ash...just black charr around as far as the eye can see. Phoenix out of the ashes during the year of the dragon...The trees have burned the animals have suffered tremendous loss, they say next year will be an explosion of wildflowers....the Strawbale House, "Don't your horses eat it?" the one that no one wanted to insure, stands solemn in a black and white and wilted neighborhood.. Did I mention that the STRAW-berries also survived and the Bed-STRAW...I am reverend...This was the THIRD fire in golden June of 2012...Hewlett Gulch started late May, then the Stuart Hole fire in Cherokee Park, the back to the POUDRE an the High Park Fire got the fuel and zunder it needed to burn 89 000 acres....June 9th to the end...my story is only a small and relatively harmless account. What I remember most is the constant hauling of horses, from here to Bonner Peak to evacuate there down to Wellington back to here and then around again.

I also remember the strange evening walks with neighbors and friends, and the strange migration of deer and insects...the smell - the life on hold...the thoughts of essential packing.

I will never forget INCIWEB.ORG and the intense search for indicators that the wind, the weather, the watergods would turn the course of events.

This was just the beginning, then the Pre-Evacs started followed by the EVACS, the reverse 911, the collecting of personal belongings..And then on the 23rd, after several SPOT fires and successful jumps across the POUDRE with extreme heat and wind combined Stephens Gulch and Sheep Mountain gave out, the slash pile was lined up and the containment lines, dozer paths and contingency lines accelerated the flames into the 12th filing with heat and speed exceeding the capacity of any fire fighting technology (?) and burned so hot that 20 minutes consumed over 60 houses and charred the landscape with holes burning out roots several feet deep.
There was a life-stream helicopter which allowed us to view and take Screenshots as the fire burned...
Note the only green circle left center is where my mustangs grazed a pasture. The fire did not want to cross the fence into the grazed area. This house was saved.
Note again the triangualar shaped green spot top center of pic is my pasture and house, grass not burned and house safed. Most other building sites visible here were destroyed. On the lower left the dozer line and the contingency lines held the fire away from the other filings.
THE STRAWBALE HOUSE on June 23rd 5pm. As seen on the denverchannel from the helicopter livestream of the fire as it swept through the 12th filing in 20 minutes. Smoke still rising from the house or the tree. At that point I did not know whether this was still burning or not.
Coming closer to my friends and neighbors houses.
House, garage and rock garden... Just a day before my "Equine Mower Ruigoord, the Icelandic" had done his best for fire mitigation eating his little heart out on the high grasses of her leachfield...This burned so hot and fast that more than a week later when we were allowed escorted to inspect our rubble every little item was still burning hot to the touch.
Hovering helicopter siphoning water from riddle lake by the western Ridge...
The Final Countdown. You can see that the black line kept its promise to some extent. The fire consumed the 12th filing with little distraction.
This is my beautiful neighborhood with 74E (Redfeather Lakes Rd in the foreground). You can see the charred hills and then the dozer line on the left middle. The 12th filing is but gone, good to remember though, that the fireseason has just started and what is burned will not easily burn again.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Advocates focusing on Solutions and proposals for improvement of conditions on the range.

More than ever it is time to gather statistics and charts, draw conclusions referring to research and science and come up with positive and productive solutions and proposals. There is no room for UTOPIA, only realistic and practical logistics can be incorporated into a broken and ailing system. Our input, whether it feels like compromise or exploitation is what will eventually improve the conditions of the range and with that the horses that we so care for.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

HEWLETT GULCH - FIRE - May 14,15,16, 17

More pics...As we are driving back to the house, the wind has shifted and it is out of the west, giving us  visibility and good air...then it shifts and we get the smoke and the flames...

Livermore Post Office and Fire Station becomes the briefing point for media and public...community.

Aragon and Coppersmith

Horses are not participating in the action, they just wonder...

Silhouette and Veedawoo
Just turning at Livermore...(all photos by Kelsey Anne)

LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHILE WE ARE MAKING OTHER PLANS>>>>

This was the view from my house on the second morning...

As the crow flies 5 miles
Western Ridge Restaurant and Resort just downhill from me





looking east from 74E Redfeather Lakes Road


In our case it meant the first big spring fire. On Monday at 1pm I was hiking with my friends Frank Auer and Jacques Rieux in the Bonner Peak area close to Seaman Reservoir to look at some land that was for sale with great horse property and conditions, except that it had burned badly 7 years ago...when we drove out we noticed a plume of smoke. That it was: a fire 100 acres. Today another story. 7800 acres and 5% contained (one does not know what that means) The fire has flip-flopped directions several times burning first east, then north, then west and then north and east again with evac notices following... With my horses in 4 different locations and pastures I opted to start bringing them down to the flatlands yesterday the day before yesterday, including my 4 year old Colt Galicio, who had cut himself quite serious on the inside of the right hock (with great concern it might have exposed the joint)
Galicio leaving CSU VET hospital
He spent the night at the hospital while I was agonizing about the general fate of my horses and the future of MUSTANG ECO TOURS, if these conditions would continue...Late in the night the surgeon called and said that we had had luck and the joint was not compromised, even though the canonbone was exposed...we made a plan and today my guardian angel Kelsey Anne and I picked him up and brought him to a safe place far away from the fire to my trusted veterinarian Deb.

She still had the Christmas lights up to instill peace and quiet to a tired vet coming home in the evening from exhausting medical calls all day long...Ruigoord the 27 year old Icelandic was with us to give the young colt the necessary security around the temporary shelter from the fire.

Kelsey greeting some of the residents

After securing the little horses and thanking everyone for their support, we headed to Tim Singewald's place to check on Silhouette, Veedawoo, Aragon and Coppersmith. They had been evacuated from a perfectly good pasture to a smoke filled and health alert coral in Wellington not understanding what the purpose was.

Kelsey taking a well deserved snooze after a sleepless night
Then we headed down the road to Mountain View Arabians, where my friend and Trainer Trisha Swift  had offered to take the injured colt for the first night and Escalante, who was not agreeable with staying with the other mustangs.

Escalante being his usual impatient...
In between our eyes back on the fire....


Headed back to Aragon and Coppersmith to feed them
And then back to Redfeather to assess the situation...after 3 days of this we were getting tired....

7900 acres and 5% contained....
Shawnee is 14 years old and did NOT understand what was going on....

Channel 9 News had updates and briefing stations at the Livermore Fire Station and the neighborhood rose to the task....The fire has burned back on itself at this time and all of the evacuations have been cancelled. We will be sleeping tonight. Thank you everyone.

Monday, May 14, 2012

The story of "HAYDEN"

Hayden is a 5 year old line back Dun from the PRYOR MOUNTAINS, He was adopted during the last Roundup and brought to Montana. He was gelded and received some training. Halter. He is not broke to ride. He is the son of Jackson and Brumby (Ginger Kathrens knew him since being a baby).
Word is that he is gaited.

As a coming 5 year old he is probably in his prime and will be both a wonderfully matured animal but also a challenge. Only serious inquiries please.







For more information and photographs, please contact me: 970 224 5035 or Ginger Kathrens.