Last month The Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep put out the call for volunteers to haul water into the Mojave National Preserve and Sheephole Mountain Wilderness. Large water collection and storage systems called “guzzlers” provide extra water over the hot summer months to the bighorn sheep populations in those areas. While winter and spring rains had filled the Kerr Guzzler with over 800 gallons of water, that still wasn’t enough to sustain the bighorn sheep that live in the area.
One of those volunteers is Scott Gibson, who helped organize the larger water haul effort. Capable 4×4 vehicles are needed to carry the heavy water cubes – called IBC totes – to the guzzlers in the preserve. Scott says that 27 volunteers showed up to the Kelso Depot on June 1st, including two California Department of Fish & Wildlife employees and a biologist from the Mojave National Preserve.
Hauling the water to the sites is only half the job and with only two flat tires and one broken shock, the group had made it to the guzzler site by 10 AM where the volunteers began the hard work of stringing out 900 feet of hose up a steep canyon to the tanks. Volunteers then monitor the pumps and wait for the tanks to fill.
After a brief lunch break sponsored by the California Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation – Scott says that all the water had been pumped into the guzzlers by about 1:30 that afternoon. Folks from Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms answered the call for volunteers, with some coming all the way from Temecula. Scott says that over 100 people contacted him asking to help out, and still receives calls and texts from people offering their time, sweat, and offroad vehicles.
The call for volunteers was shared on a few off road enthusiast groups on Facebook. The post on Z107.7’s Facebook page alone received 325 shares.
Bighorn Sheep Photo Gallery
The Kerr guzzler is remotely located deep in the Mojave National Preserve, and a volunteer who was instrumental to keeping it maintained was Andrew Pontious. Scott Gibson says that Andrew discovered and repaired the faulty float valve on the Kerr Guzzler that necessitated the volunteer effort to top off the tanks. He also set up some game cameras around the tank to capture photos of the charismatic bighorn sheep, a shy desert dweller that can be difficult to spot in the wild.
Andrew Pontious wasn’t able to make the volunteer water haul on June 1st as he was working his shift as an L.A. County Firefighter. Two weeks later on June 14th, Andrew Pontious was tragically killed in an explosion while fighting a fire in the Antelope Valley. He was a 19-year veteran of the L.A. County Fire Department and an avid volunteer and advocate for bighorn sheep, often hiking deep into the wilderness on his own to check on water tanks and repair and maintain the equipment.
His funeral was held on June 19th and had a 20-mile procession of fellow firefighters and colleagues who showed up to honor the fallen 52 year-old.
If you missed the last volunteer effort to provide water to Bighorn sheep in the deep desert – fear not, there will be more tanks to fill and equipment to check.
You can follow The Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep’s Facebook page here and visit their their website at https://sheepsociety.com/
The group will be doing another water haul later this summer, this time a little closer in on some MDLT land as well as a guzzler located in Joshua Tree National Park.
Z107.7 will keep you informed of how and when you can help out.
