Into the River - Jack Hulett

 This week was spent exploring the many nefarious holes presented by having extremely temperamental river (the Animas), and the possible habitat implicated by them. It was rugged terrain in many places, not easy to traverse. It was safe to say that carting around a blower was not an option, so we were reliant upon tossing G30 by hand. This presented its own set of challenges, namely in coverage and range. However, the farther along the riverside we pushed the more evident it became how necessary the push was. Upon flooding, the river rises above the customary riverbank and subs into the surrounding landscape. When it withdraws, it leaves hundreds of "tidepools" in its path. These pools then serve as hotspots for mosquito larvae. The most terrain sporting the most of these devious little habitats were rocky, even riverbank where the water has thousands of holes to enter and no help from gravity to drain. In these pools we found several species of mosquito, as well as one very angry toad (pictured). It was a week of hard charging, ankle twisting treatment; however, it was critical to the safety of the public in that the majority of these sites lay in direct proximity to neighborhoods and campgrounds.  






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