The Stewardship Program at the Chiricahua Regional Council rests on the principle that people and non-profits collaborating together can have a positive impact on the land. Stewards are created when individuals assemble to work toward tangible goals like trail restoration and erosion control. The CRC has the expertise and experience to develop and manage efforts in conservation stewardship.
Natural habitats benefit from well designed projects that adhere to a core set of values that considers the health of the biological resources first.
We will always advocate for sound management practices by the governmental agencies charged with protecting public land in our region. Using established science as the basis for our work, we seek to engage volunteers interested in having a direct positive involvement with the land.
The goal of stewardship at the CRC is twofold. 1) increase volunteer participation by the local community on public land projects and 2) accomplish real results on both ranchlands and the forest through funded projects.
Currently the CRC is planning to restore the entire South Fork Trail #243. We will facilitate the organizing and financing to partner with organized paid crews of young adults.
Examples of stewardship projects either currently active or under development at the CRC:
Recruiting and training local volunteers for trail maintenance, spring restoration, boundary monitoring, and recreation management.
In an era of climate change that has brought us mega-fires and the severe effects of drought it has become more important than ever that we all become land stewards.
“…that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, animals, or collectively: the land.” —Aldo Leopold
We didn’t have much to cheer about in 2024’s field season after an early fall storm forced the postponement of our Crest Trail improvement project. Some background: grant awards for trail work were disappointing last year so CRC Stewardship partnered up with FoCCC to “self-fund” a project. It would address the issues along segments of…
Chiricahua Regional Council Statement The Chiricahua Regional Council expresses profound concern over recent federal staffing reductions threatening our vital trail maintenance partnerships. Nationwide 3,400 workers have been abruptly fired. This represents 10% of US Forest Service personnel and the disturbing part is that the firings are disproportionately affecting Recreation staff. A troubling feature of the current…
CRC’s Stewardship Program replaced many of the posts and signs along the Chiricahua Crest Trail this spring. The project grew out of discussions between CRC President Dirk Sigler and Douglas District Ranger Doug Ruppel to develop a plan to renovate the deteriorated signage across the trail system. This long-standing need goes back over a decade….
The CRC Stewardship Program joined forces with the Chiricahua Wilderness Trail Crew, the Portal-Rodeo Hiking Group, Wild Arizona, and the Coronado National Forest to do maintenance on several popular trails. Beginning with the Greenhouse Trail, logs were removed to a point well above the Winn Falls overlook. Then shifting to areas near Rustler Park, once…
CRC’s Stewardship Program had an active 2023. Working with partner organizations, we amassed over 750 hours of volunteer time. In the winter, we installed wilderness portal signs in several Chiricahua locations, including Price Canyon, Rucker Canyon, and Cave Creek Canyon. The program organized monthly trail maintenance days for the Portal-Rodeo Hiking Group. These dedicated volunteers…
A walk along the Crest Trail in the Chiricahuas, with its expansive views, is an experience not soon forgotten. This sublime trail, #270 Rustler Park-Sentinel Peak segment, just got better. Over this summer and again in the fall, CRC Stewardship, in a supportive role, helped plan and coordinate the activities of several volunteer groups that…
The day started very promisingly with light rain in the Portal area and a magnificent double rainbow. Would the day bring the return of the monsoon? For the first time, we joined forces with Wild Arizona to work on the trails. Luke from Wild Arizona arranged for us to meet at the Silver Peak Trailhead…
With creeks flowing and the skies promising rain, the Portal-Rodeo Hiking Group elected to spend their monthly trail maintenance day working in the canyon this May. These conditions are abnormal for this time of year and made for a pleasant few hours of clearing brush and logs from the Herb Martyr Trail. This local group…
It’s been a busy and productive Spring for trailwork in the Chiricahuas. The completion of the South Fork Trail project in mid-April was quickly followed by a week of work organized by the venerable John Sumner. A group of volunteers came from as far away as Minnesota to spend time cutting logs alongside this master…
We value our collaboration with the Forest Service and are happy for the contributions our stewardship group has made this year with the work on the South Fork Trail and the placing of new signs in the wilderness.
