From Friday Evening until Sunday Afternoon
At Willow Creek Campground in the Gila National Forest
Our Bull Thistle Removal Project in the Gila Wilderness (August 9-11) will be based out of Willow Creek Campground, located in a beautiful, quiet canyon among the pines on the northern part of the Gila National Forest. Willow Creek Campground is located about 2.5 hours from Silver City and 5 hours from Albuquerque, requiring driving on rough dirt roads and therefore a high clearance vehicle. Willow Creek is a primitive campground with vault toilets with little in the way of other amenities, including no water, so be sure to bring plenty for the weekend. New Mexico Wild will also provide a free camp dinner Saturday night!
Volunteers on this project will work with several of New Mexico Wild’s Wilderness Rangers and Gila National Forest Staff.
NOTE: The project will require up to 10 miles of hiking round trip each day, so is best suited to people with strong hiking and backcountry experience.
When: Friday, August 9 to Sunday, August 11 – meet us at Willow Creek Campground on Friday evening. We will work full days Saturday and Sunday, though volunteers will be able to leave early if needed to travel home.
Where: Gila Wilderness, accessed from a base camp at Willow Creek Campground (3+ mile hike into and back out from work site, totaling up to 10 miles of hiking per day). Access to Willow Creek requires driving on rough dirt roads, necessitating the use of a high clearance vehicle.
Camping: Willow Creek Campground
- Remote, fee-free, and quiet
- Towering Ponderosa pines and canyon walls provide shade
- Amenities include vault toilets and tent spaces
Work will include:
- Hiking 3+ miles to and from project site
- Cutting bull thistle flower heads and placing them in trash bags, hiking bags out at the end of the work day
- Cutting flower stalks at ground level and leaving them in place
- Digging out basal rosettes (leaves at ground level that will develop a flower stalk in their second year). It’s very damp in this area so the digging is easy.
- No herbicides
Volunteers are asked to bring:
- Camping gear (tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, cooking utensils, etc.)
- Drinking water
- Rain gear and shoes that can get wet
- Long sleeves, pants, and sturdy footwear to work in
- Sun protection – clothing, hat, and/or sunscreen for working in the sun
- If you have them, you may bring thick work gloves, pruning shears, loppers, and shovels
- All meals other than dinner on Saturday, which New Mexico Wild will provide
- A positive attitude! No previous experience is needed; all training will be provided on-site
If you have questions about this project, please do not hesitate to reach out to Keila Gutierrez at keila@nmwild.org.
