SL90 - "Black Pearl" - State Lands Project #2
SL90 “Black Pearl” - State Lands Project #2
By Debbie Miller Marschke
SCBS concluded a historic year in December, completing the second wildlife water system to be installed on leased California State Lands. On the weekend of December 6-8, 2024, a great group of volunteers assembled near Ludlow, California despite the holiday season and chilly evenings. Rodger Lopez and his family volunteered again to provide the crew with hot meals; what a great way to start and end a productive day. Thanks, Rodger & Co, you guys are the best!
Saturday, December 7th. In camp, Steve Marschke gave an in depth briefing of the project and set expectations. And then, a moment of silence was observed for our fallen troops on this Pearl Harbor Day, a day that still lives in infamy. The daytime temperatures were quite perfect for desert construction, and we caravanned several miles to the project site. The crew made quick work clearing the footprint for the rain mat, while our expert craftsman Chuck Thomas crawled his tracked excavator to the job site and dug the pits for the two Raincatcher tanks with his wife Tina for supervision and morale support. Things were moving right along when Chuck ran into a bank of rock. He worked on the area, but it became apparent that he had dug down to a buried iceberg of bedrock. Scott Gibson, who was measuring depths with the laser level, made the decision to place the tanks end-to-end instead of side-by-side. It was a necessary design deviation that SCBS has never needed to try before now. Once the area was sufficiently excavated, Chuck took a break and surveyed the asymmetrical hole with disgust. Chuck is consistently precise, so this job was truly an Ugly Duckling. It was no one’s fault, it’s just nature. Fortunately, the site we selected had room and essentially the margin of error was enough to work around. We are thankful we have Chuck and Tina’s expertise and equipment. If our crew had been digging this out manually, imagine the consternation and defeat once that bed rock was found.
All in all, we did not lose much time executing that work-around. While Chuck and Scott engineered the fix, the rest of the crew kept working. A beautifully prepared base was achieved, so progress marched on as the rain mats were unfolded and pulled into place. This location had plenty of rocks, so the volunteers didn’t need to search long or far to find the best ones and get that rain mat secured. As Saturday progressed, the question of “what will this drinker be called?” was bounced around. I had considered naming this guzzler to honor the day, but “Pearl” was not quite right. I consulted my brother from another mother, Jeff Crouse, because of his creativity and whimsical spirit ( Jeff and I share the same birthday, same day, same year, different bloodlines; not sure which of us is technically older). Jeff and his son Nickolas brainstormed while they worked. At the end of the day the three of us actually came up with the exact same answer: Black Pearl. Spiritually, black pearls are associated with wisdom, protection, and a barrier against negative energy. The color black is associated with tragedy and mourning. It’s kismet that Jeff and I came up with the exact same name. In honoring this day when so many lives were lost, SCBS has created a source of life and has made a positive change. Water is life in the desert, which is something our hero Dick Weaver championed.
SCBS decided that coordinating a water hauling crew at the same time as the construction event over complicated things, so the guzzler had no water in it when the crew departed on Sunday. We are happy to report that the guzzler collected water immediately from seasonal rains, not enough to fill it but enough water to put the system in service. Later, Monte Hammer arranged for more water to be hauled in, and there has been another rain event. so we’re certain there’s enough water for the animals. It will take some time for the bighorn sheep to discover it, and SCBS can always schedule a water haul crew if necessary (but we believe things are good for now).
Thank you to our construction team: Jim Ambrose, Marty Ambrose, Evan Black, Jeff Crouse, Nick Crouse, Alan DeLarge, David German, Scott Gibson, Lee Johnson, Alden Lovaas, Debbie Miller Marschke, Steve Marschke, David M’Greene, Michael Morgan, Joe Preiss, Austin Smith, Carly Tailor, Chuck Thomas, Tina Thomas. Breakfast and Dinner meals prepared by Rodger Lopez, Brenda Lopez, Stevan VanDerGriff, and Ariana Flor. The meals were funded by a previous donation from Bass Pro Shops. Finally, this project would not be possible without the generous funding provided by the California Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation and the Give A Lamb A Drink (GALAD) program. By and through this program, CA WSF paid $ 31, 529.61 as a reimbursement to SCBS for the cost of equipment and materials. CA WSF has been patiently waiting with funds in reserve so we are happy to report that the program is progressing toward our mutual goal : to give a lamb a drink!