Flash flood destroys Big Gees!

Due to an increased desert bighorn population in the Cady Mountains, the Big Gees water development has needed to have a water hauling effort at least once each year.  This amounts to a rather large amount of effort by SCBS during the heat of the summer.  Around July 15 a large rainstorm hit the Mojave Desert.  One of our more active members decided to check the Automata website to see how much water was collected at Big Gees development in the Cady Mountains.  If enough water was collected it might eliminate the need to organize a water hauling project.  The satellite monitoring system indicated that there was no signal from the system.  Two members organized an immediate scouting party to dtermine that status of the development.  They were suprised to discoverd that a large flash flood and scoured the entire canyon for a distance of over 7 miles!  This wash is over 1000 feet wide in places so a huge amount of water had passed through very quickly.  One of the 3 tanks was found broken and tumbled 1.2 miles from the original location.  The drinker box was filled with sediment and the plumbing was broken emptying the tanks of what should have been collected.  The infrared camera and satellite monitoring system were nowhere to be found.  Not good news, if a solution is not implemented quickly it will be a serious blow to the Cady Mountain desert bighorn sheep herd and set our conservation efforts back several years.  The digital photos are very informative and will allow us to plan an effective repair project.  Many thanks to the immediate scouting efforts of our members!