Tom Digerness

The extensive kits are the bug out bags (BOB) and get home bags (GHB).  They are built for the unknown SHTF situations.  An extended stay in the woods is very possible.

Some thatching ants, which I assume are in some sort of colony split.

*Randolph Utah

Can't call it recent, but here is a striped coral root, an orchid which has tapped into the mycorrhizal network and survives without any chlorophyll.

*Randolph Utah

Here is an ant, that I chased around for forever and a day, trying to catch a pose.

*Rangely Colorado

Though not in a kit, always have a plug kit, air compressor, shovel, multiple bic lighters, 5050 cord, snacks, consumable liquid (container).  I nearly go into a a panic attack if I don't have a pocketknife on my person.  So there are extra knifes kicking around in the truck.  And most important a head full of adapt and overcome knowledge / mindset.

Absolutely, roots won't roll away.  Eventually, I want to spread some big tooth maple and choke cherry seeds around the outskirts of the grove.  I don't think they need as much water. The cottonwoods already dominate the areas with water near the surface.  I have only seen the spring break the surface that once.  There are a few rose bushes and currents that have been volunteered by birds.

The heavens really do have to align to get everyone on board.  If the feds push it the ranchers tend to resist, and the bureaucracies can be as stubborn as the ranchers.

We were fortunate enough to have an extremely large private ranch near by, which had implemented a grazing plan.  The local ranchers noticed how much better the the private range was to the public range.  The ranchers teamed up with Utah State University to develop a plan, then together they pitched it to the various agencies.

If all goes well, it might spread.  I am just nervous that too many people look at cows as the problem, instead of thier management.  Domestication is the process of breeding the self management skills away.

Here is an overview of the area.  If you follow the drainage that I am standing in, you can see the tips of the cottonwood grove (not yet leafed out).  As you can see, cottonwood growing in a "dry" wash, in the middle of a sagebrush steppe is quite spectacular.

With only round rocks available, I can only build one layer at a time.  A good pebble game is crucial.

I don't really have any plans other than catching sediment, and getting myself and the dogs out of the house.  Over the years I have noticed the cottonwood are spreading both below and above the grove.  It is in open range, so there are a lot of cow trails that I also play with outside of the wash.  Always finding areas I can make the water follow contour, with minimal work.