Muddy River Restoration

This past week our crew along with Crew 1 was doing some restoration along the banks of the Muddy river near Moapa. The goal of this project was to restore the areas around fish barriers that had recently been put into place. For the most part we were planting willow cuttings in and near the water. Among other things, the willows would replace the habitats of the southwestern willow flycatcher, which are currently inhabiting the tamarisk tree, an invasive species. We were also collecting some seeds of native plants to scatter on the banks.

This project was really awesome for a few reasons. For one, it was way different than anything that we have been doing. Recently we have been out at Sloan Canyon constructing new tread at Dutchman’s Pass. The work out there is great and the views are beautiful, but it is nice to change it up every now and then and this was a great change of pace. Second, on a projects like this one you can see the progress that you are making right away. When we got there the banks were bare and by the time we left they were green with willows. It was super cool to see our hard work right in front of us! Lastly, the willow cuttings that we were using were from a construction area near the Las Vegas Wash that were going to be cleared to make room for development. It was nice to know that we were able to save them and plant them somewhere else where they were going to make a big difference.

Beside a few falls into the water this was a great week. It was exciting to see all the work that we did at the fish barriers. We are looking forward to see how this project progresses and see the area restored!