SL 03 Lady Lu - State Lands #3
SL 03 Lady Lu – State Lands #3
By Debbie Miller Marschke
SCBS started the New Year with another successful brand-new State Lands guzzler, the “Lady Lu”. This wildlife water system is located in the Bristol Mountains, and it’s namesake originates from a historic mine in the vicinity. The current property owners at the nearby Orange Blossom Mine do confirm that there is a resident herd of Bighorn Sheep that roam these mountains, and SCBS has been itching to get a reliable source of water in place to help that herd prosper.
On the weekend of January 10-12, 2025, the volunteers with SCBS made this dream a reality. Thanks to Monte Hammer, Marty Ambrose, Jim Ambrose, Darrin Busking, Linda Castro, Mary Conner, Jim Fitzgerald, David German, Scott Gibson, Michael Graber, David Hess, Ed Kocina, Bill Kulungian, Krystian Lahage, Mark Le Compte, Doretta LeCompte, Debbie Miller Marschke, Steve Marschke, Arioch M’Greene, Mike Morgan, John Roy, Linda Roy, Andres Ruetman, Tom Tinti, William Wright, David M’Greene, Jeff Crouse, Nick Crouse, Erich Steiner, Matt Wolf, Lauren Hearn, and Evan Black. If you want to change the world, you need to show up and that’s what this team did – we’ve made a difference.
This particular weekend was annoyingly brisk due to the constant Mojave winds. Our crew expected this, which resulted in the arrival of possibly the most firewood I have ever witnessed at an SCBS project. And a lively campfire that was! Rodger Lopez and his family blessed us once more with hot meals, so if it wasn’t for the photos taken, I would have forgotten about the wind (Arioch’s dog Glacier was dressed more fashionably than I was…)
Quite honestly, SCBS would not have been able to pull off the installation of these first three State Lands Wildlife Water Systems without Chuck Thomas of Diversified Excavating. Three new water sources in four months, that’s impressive. We hope he never says “No”, because who but Chuck would drive hundreds of miles, work from sunrise until after dark, truck and then crawl his mini-excavator an excruciating three miles an hour (because the washes are too sandy to trailer the equipment to the job site), and excavate a hole so precise that manual digging with shovels is not necessary. He unloads the heavy Hypalon rain mats off our truck, and gingerly lifts the Raincatcher tanks down into place. It takes a tough, dedicated family like Chuck and Tina Thomas to support SCBS’s mission. We know the Thomases believe in us – why else would they go to such lengths to do the job that no other operator would put up with. Not to say that there were not any choice words from his lips – working in the Mojave backcountry is challenging; it’s no picnic at the park, even if Chuck’s skills make the job look easy. We appreciate him immensely. Thank You Chuck and Tina!
Steve and I returned to the Lady Lu on February 21. We left the system dry on Janary 12, but 6 weeks later the system proved itself. The wildlife water system had collected 15 inches of water naturally, as designed, from seasonal precipitation. It’s ready for the Bighorn.