O'Keefe Spring

On the first full day of work, I formally met Chelsie and we headed to O'Keefe Spring where she knew there was a problem, but didn't know how to best assess it or resolve it.  Along the way, we saw several other springs that were in various states of disrepair.

O'Keefe Spring itself was the largest spring, but surprisingly the least developed.  After assessing the site, we both determined that yes, it was in fact degraded from overgrazing.  Fortunately, the area was pretty rocky, so degradation was somewhat limited.  Restoration here would be pretty easy, actually: fence the site off, develop the spring, and pipe the water to a trough outside of the riparian area and on stable ground.

With the rest of the day, we set up a monitoring transect so that Chelsie could come back at regular intervals and track stream channel incision to see if conditions were worsening.

And finally, here are a couple pics from my drive home!