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
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.
A team of four volunteers led by John Sumner continued trail work in the Chiricahua Wilderness last week. The plan at this stage of the project was to ascend and work on the higher and more remote section of the trail. The Chiricahua Regional Council is sponsoring this multi year project to fully restore the…
On September 24, 2022, the USFS and Korrina Rantz celebrated a National Public Lands Day volunteer event at the Visitor Information Center in Portal. Improvements were made to the new connector trail linking the VIC to other Cave Creek Canyon trails. Following the work, CRC, Friends of Cave Creek Canyon, and Wild Arizona supplied food…
A number of volunteer events are planned for September and October as we ramp up the effort to complete the South Fork Trail (SFT) and celebrate our public lands. Beginning on the September 22, there will be several of us working to remove downed wood on the SFT’s first segment. When an assessment was done…
A group of four hiked the two miles to the Burro/South Fork junction carrying a new post and sign to mark what has been a confusing point in South Fork Canyon. Now that the Burro Trail has benefited from recent work from the Wild Arizona-led YCC group, it’s time for new signage. The creek has…
June of ’22 has been kind to us in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico. An early start to the seasonal rain (aka the monsoon) has brought critical moisture and lower temperatures to our region. Coinciding with this welcome change is the arrival of a diverse group of young adults from across the country. They’re…
On May 6, 2022, the Chiricahua Wilderness Trail Crew completed a week of volunteer trail work in the Chiricahua mountains. John Sumner (in the blue hardhat in the above picture) led the group. Several participants traveled from outside Arizona to improve conditions on several trails that have seen damage in recent years. These included Rattlesnake,…
(This is a part of a series of gleanings from the history of CRC’s 30 years of work; additional posts available here.) In February 2021, CRC partnered with Wild Arizona and the US Forest Service on the South Fork Trail Stewardship Project. We seek to involve volunteers in habitat, spring, and trail restoration. Recent trail projects,…
