Take a guided desert walk Tuesday on the Salt River

Tonto National Forest offers guided desert walks on Tuesdays 

Mesa, Ariz (Nov. 8, 2011) - Weekly "Desert Walks" featuring plants and wildlife on the Salt River, will begin November 15. There is no charge for this activity which is offered by the Mesa Ranger District Volunteer Program.

The walks will be held every Tuesday at 10 a.m., alternating between two meeting locations: the Pebble Beach walks for odd Tuesdays of the month, and the PhonD Sutton location scheduled for meeting on even Tuesday dates.

Aimee Beth Ward, an educator who has been leading groups into the desert for over 20 years, is the program coordinator. Ward is a master gardener who has devoted her life to learning about the desert and sharing it with others. She comments, “My passion is to help people see and enjoy the desert in a new way by creating connections with our animal neighbors and natural enviroment.”

The walks are on easy terrain and usually last about an hour and a half. Sun protection and comfortable walking shoes are advised, as well as a walking stick if desired.

"We are pleased to be able to offer this service to the community,” said acting district ranger Rocky Gilbert. “There are lots of interesting and unique things about the desert and this offers residents and visitors a chance to learn about some of these.”

Additional information on the program can be found online at http://www.mrdvolunteers.org/.

Community groups interested in requesting an alternate group walk or talk led by Ward should contact her at 509-312-9074.

Thought for the Day

Photo of elk in a neighborhood greenbelt in Payson by Alan Hudson

"Our task must be to. . . embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty"

Albert Einstein

Payson Farmers Market co-founder goes on a bee-autiful adventure

"Nature is amazing, bees are fascinating, the honey from Sunflower Honey is delicious and it's worth way more than we pay." 

By John Roethlein

I may be one of the luckiest people around. As a Co-Founder of the Payson Farmers Market I get to hang out with great people, and eat delicious fresh food.. Recently I had an opportunity for adventure with David Jones, one of our vendors and the beekeeper for Sunflower Honey.

I was lucky enough to spend the evening working with David inspecting and maintaining his beehives, also known as Apiaries near Gisela. What a fantastic experience. Dressing in long pants, shirts, heavy socks, boots and hats we donned coveralls, velcroed and taped closed any openings bees could enter, and went to work. It was a balmy 95 degrees but the sun was setting so at least it was cooling down.

According to Wikipedia wild beekeeping started around 13,000 BC with domestic beekeeping as we know it today starting sometime after that.  On the wall of the Egyptian sun temple of Nyuserre Ini there are pictures from before 2422 BC showing workers blowing smoke into hives as they are removing the honeycombs. So joining our ancestors I blew smoke into my first hive, driving the bees inside so we could work. Opening the lid we were stunned to see the hive was dead. The queen was gone and so were the workers and drones. The only thing remaining were Honey Moths, who it turns out enter the hive, lay eggs which hatch then eat everything, killing the hive.

Moving on, we checked hive after hive and fortunately no others were dead. They were in various levels of growth, from small hives, where laying eggs, and raising enough workers to produce honey was the priority, to large hives so full we added a layer of boxes on top to make room. Beehives are complete little factories, where everyone is born, lives, eats, works and dies. They are born and live in the lower boxes and honey production is done upstairs. It’s a self-contained system where life and death is based on genetics, the strength of the hive to repel invaders like the Honey Moth and access to flowers and other pollen producing plants so they can make enough food. Every hive is different and some thrive and some do not.

I certainly learned a lot about bees and I only scratched the surface. But I can say this for sure. Nature is amazing, bees are fascinating, the honey from Sunflower Honey is delicious and it’s worth way more than we pay.

Thanks David for letting me work with you and see you at the market!

Areas of Tonto National Forest to be closed Friday near Roosevelt Dam

Temporary Closures in Roosevelt Dam Area
to support Centennial Celebration on Friday


Roosevelt, Ariz. (March 14, 2011) – Several areas in the vicinity of Roosevelt Dam on the Tonto National Forest will be closed to the public on Friday, March 18, for 15 hours during the Centennial Celebration at the dam.   The areas are:

The Amphitheater in Windy Hill Campground which includes all parking areas, buildings and beach areas immediately adjacent to the paved parking lot.

The Vineyard Picnic Area which includes all parking areas, buildings, improved picnic areas, and beaches that surround the Vineyard Picnic Area

The area surrounding the dam is composed of both land and water boundaries:  Old SR 188 and the buoy line across from the dam on the north; Trail 121 and Forest Road (FR) 1080 on the east; Canyon and Two-Mile Canyon on the south; the western edge of Vineyard Mountain and Trail 131 on the west (please see posted orders and map for exact legal description).

         The area closures are for the protection of forest visitors and employees during the event and will be in effect from midnight until 3 pm on March 18.  

Violation of these prohibitions is punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for organizations, imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, or both.

For further information, please contact the Tonto Basin Ranger District administrative office at 928-467-3200.  The closure order is available on the Tonto National Forest website at www.fs.usda.gov/Tonto.

Hiking the Tonto Natural Bridge

A good resource for hiking Arizona is the Exploring the Southwest Blog. Today there is a post about hiking the Tonto Natural Bridge here in Payson. Continue to follow posts from this blog under Local Blogs  in the right column.