Project Title: Employ 20 Temporary Hires (FFS #R2NF*)

State: Regionwide, New Mexico

Project Description: Walking 10-12 miles a day in rugged mountainous terrain, rain or shine through 40 mile an hour winds, temperatures from below freezing to over 100 degrees, and braving dangerous predators and poisonous snakes, would probably not sound like fun to most people, but Ryan Platte considers it a beautiful day at the office; “It’s outdoors, it’s doing what I love to do, it’s an amazing job, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Ryan was hired as a Recovery Act intern at San Andres National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), a 57,125 acre national wildlife refuge in south-central New Mexico. Bighorn Sheep were reintroduced to the area in 2002 and the refuge is paying keen attention to the size of the herd. Bighorn sheep are collared and re-released to the herd, making tracking and compilation of their births, deaths and movement easier. Much of the San Andres NWR’s vertical mountain terrain is all but impassable by vehicle, so tracking of the desert sheep must be done the old-fashioned way: by wearing out hiking boots. “I get out in the field before sun up, or it’s too hot” says Platte about beginning his sometimes arduous day. “I get radio signals to make sure all of the animals are still alive and try to get in a couple of visuals before I call it a day.”

Refuge manager Kevin Cobble, who wears multiple hats including, mechanic, administrator, firefighter, refuge officer, and more, appreciates Ryan’s helping hand. “The refuge is spread out over 21 miles of the San Andres Mountains, and some of the herd has split off to other areas as well including White Sands (missile range) and the nearby Organ Mountains,” says Cobble. “He’s doing a great job for us. Having Ryan out tracking deer and sheep has allowed us to get to other projects we’ve had on the back burner for a while.”

In addition to the bighorn sheep, Ryan tracks the indigenous desert mule deer population on the refuge, and keeps an eye on the growing population of Oryx, an African antelope introduced by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to promote big game hunting in the state. According to Cobble, the only way to collar the agile, cliff-dwelling sheep is for a pilot to fly a helicopter over the scattering herd, while a second man fires a net gun at an un-collared sheep. Another crewman, called a mugger then hops out of the hovering aircraft to blindfold and hobble the sheep to prevent injury to the animal. Tranquilizers are not used because bighorn sheep do not react well to immobilizing drugs. Once on the ground, the two men must wrestle with a very strong 140 lb animal to affix a radio tracking collar which is designed to last up to 5-6 years. The entire process, according to Cobble, takes about 5- 10 minutes.

Ryan’s job then begins, 10 – 12 hours a day Friday through Monday while also carrying a full load of studies as a senior at New Mexico State University. He generally arrives at the refuge at about 6:00 am, and checks for signals. He then loads up his antenna, radio receiver and all the gear he will need for a physically demanding day in the mountains; there are no fast-food establishments, bathrooms or first aid stations on an 8000 foot peak. He then decides which of the various mule deer or bighorn sheep herds he will follow on this day.

“The coolest thing I ever saw was two rams (male sheep) going at it on a mountain peak one day,” says Ryan. “Bam! Bam! They just kept charging each other with this force you couldn’t believe. I had to watch it through binoculars because they scatter pretty quickly if you get too close, and unfortunately they were too far away to get a good picture.”

“There are all kinds of things that make it dangerous” he continues, “cold, heat, slippery rocks, poisonous snakes, and there are predators; I see coyote packs all of the time. I’ve been lucky though I haven’t run into any mountain lions yet…but I know it will happen eventually; I hear they can be pretty mean if you startle ‘em.”

Just a typical day in the life of an ARRA U.S. Fish and Wildlife intern.

Video: Recovery Act Intern Tracks Sheep at San Andres National Wildlife Refuge
Watch the following video to see Ryan Platte at work!

Photos:

ARRA Intern Ryan Platt in the Organ Mountains; just a few miles from anywhere.

“I think I’m getting warm.”

Desert Bighorn Sheep. Courtesy Mara Weisenberger.

San Andreas NWR Manager Kevin Cobble.

*Project R2NF is a Regionwide project impacting multiple sites. A project page covering other sites receiving Recovery Act funding to employ temporary hires is forthcoming.

Originally posted 06/04/2010
Updated 06/08/2010
Updated 06/09/2010
Updated 06/15/2010