Changes in Sierra Blanca Spring and Sierra Blanca Canyon

[Note: this page and some of its links are out of date. We hope to update it soon.]

Sierra Blanca Watershed includes our only permanent springs.  When we acquired this area in 1990, the Sierra Blanca Canyon bottom had clumps of deer grass and patches of moist soil indicating potential for improvement. Our neighbor helped rebuild the fences in the area, and we provided almost daily herding of the cattle when they entered the canyon. By 1993 the canyon bottom had grown a dense stand of deer grass, but subsequent floodings, drought, and other events have altered the picture. We hope to update the picture soon, but for now provide some links that illustrate some of our previous efforts:

The Confluence of Sierra Blanca Spring and Sierra Blanca Canyon Wash

Jim's Willow Spring and below -- photostations

To protect the Sierra Blanca Canyon bottom we have fenced the Sierra Blanca Spring and its environs, and have provided a solar pump installation there to move water up to an adjacent saddle and the uplands beyond when cattle are present. As a result, cattle will have better access to the upland grasses and the Spring area is protected from trampling.  We have since completed a more ambitious project to fence not only the area of Sierra Blanca Spring, but also the larger Canyon bottomland, with its deer grass and Corbett (Willow) Spring.

Sierra Blanca Spring Works