Sheep

August 1, 2010 cont...

On the way back to camp we stopped at Big Spring, curious as to why it was fenced off with what appeared to be a newly placed barbed wire fence. The shepherd, his dogs and all his sheep were no where to be seen we assumed he was out looking for the ones who were missing.

I started walking around it noticing what a beautiful spot it was with all of the water that just came bubbling from the earth surrounded by watercress, monkey flowers and tall lush grasses. A refreshing oasis in the desert.

A local guy on an ATV saw us there and stopped to talk. When asked about the fence he said, "They put that in about a year ago to keep the Mustangs out." When asked about the other livestock, his reply was "No it is just to keep out those Mustangs."
He also told us the Peruvian Shepherd boy had over 2000 sheep he was tending with his 7 dogs.

This is what we found there...

Beautiful Spring



Inside the barbed wire fence





Grass to the left all flattened by something that could get through the fence.



Another area flattened by something that could get inside the fence.



This is inside the fence also



This is immediately outside the fence, more flattened grass like inside the fence.



With a bunch of bones and dead birds all over. This area smelled like a dog kennel.



The Shepherds camp...



near the spring, about 100 feet away.
The dog spot is in that green grass in the center of the photo and the bones to the left.

As we moved down to the other end of the fence, to the area where all the sheep (pictured here from this entry)  had been the day before, this is what we saw...



Grass eaten down to the root ball.



Vegetation that had been completely decimated.



Even the vegetation in the water was over grazed, trampled and destroyed.





Every bit of grass was gone down to the dirt in between the rocks.



And it smelled like the sheep barn at a County Fair.

















From the fence line proceeding down stream the devastation of the riparian area continued to this degree for over 200 feet.



Next time we go back we will check this area again to see how long it takes to recover from this amount of damage.
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