The Arizona Strip lies in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northern Arizona. It is a place of legendary mule deer hunting.  The deer populations are low, but the bucks are big.  The landscape is diverse, 7,500' peaks covered in ponderosa and spruce, down to Joshua Tree forests in the Mojave Desert flats.  That's where we found ourselves working, amongst the barrel cactus and Joshua Trees.  

The BLM office out of the GCP reached out to BHA in need of help removing exclusion fencing from the perimeter of a old wildfire.  The fencing was erected to keep burros and cattle out of the burn scare so the fragile desert could recover.  It was time to remove it.  

Eight BHA volunteers came from Arizona, Utah and Nevada chapters to help improve habitat connectivity on the national monument.  Some drove a couple hours; some drove all night.  Either way, they chose to give up their weekend to help improve habitat on public land.  The 8 volunteers were joined by Habitat Stewardship Coordinators Jonathan Lucas from Boise, Idaho, and project lead Bard Edrington V from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  

On Saturday Oct 18, after a breakfast of imported NM breakfast burritos, the crew headed out to the project site and began removing fencing.  The wire came down easy, but the t-posts were stubborn.  Volunteers dropped the wire and Bard using a skid steer and wire winder attachment rolled the wire into rolls.  Each volunteer found their role and the first mile came down before lunch.  Searching for shade in the Mojave, the crew refueled with Cubano sandwiches from Kanab, UT.  That's right, we work hard and eat well on these fence pulls.  

Barbed wire continued to fall and get rolled well into the afternoon.  We hit the 1.7-mile mark and headed back to camp with a truckload of firewood.  Santa Fe Brewing supplied the beers for the event and the liberation of beer from cans began quickly after arriving.  The potluck was a hit as usual.  Elk shank posole, oryx and elk chorizo tacos and even a salad.  Two $250 First Lite gift cards were given away, pretty good odds with only 8 people.  

On Sunday we went back at it for a half day and ended up with a total of 2.3 miles removed over the course of the weekend. The removal resulted in ~5,400 acres of improved wildlife connectivity.  

Due to the government shutdown, BLM employees did not join us, but they expressed their support on the project and appreciated the work.  If you live in the area and have a bit of FOMO, don't worry, you can join us next year.