With more than 1,200 square miles of land area, U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is the fourth-largest installation in the Department of Defense in terms of land area.
Developmental testers of military equipment see the proving ground as a natural laboratory and thus have a vested interest in good environmental stewardship.
Home to a wide variety of animals, including the Sonoran pronghorn and one of the largest and most genetically diverse populations of bighorn sheep in Arizona, YPG helps sustain the creatures with 25 wildlife water drinkers situated across its mountains and desert range.
“These waters are some of the most phenomenal things we have for wildlife,” said Daniel Steward, YPG wildlife biologist. “It allows animals to spread across the range and get full use of the habitat.”
The drinkers are a stabilizing presence in one of the nation’s driest desert regions, with mechanical apparatus to keep a steady supply of water available for wildlife. Sonoran pronghorn, mule deer, bobcats, coyotes, multiple bird species, even bees benefit from their presence.
“We have captured eagles on camera using those waters, lots of migratory birds, even quail,” said Steward. “Any kind of wildlife out there will use them.”
Wildlife officials are meticulous about keeping the drinkers a viable and perennial presence on the range. In March, YPG personnel joined up with the Arizona Department of Game and Fish and a team of volunteers to build a new water catchment in one of the most remote locales in the far eastern part of YPG’s vast ranges. Dubbed the Red Raven Tank, it was constructed with the labor of individuals from both organizations and volunteers from the Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club.
Most of the similar wildlife water catchment systems located across YPG’s ranges were likewise constructed with the assistance of volunteer labor.
“A lot of our volunteers come from groups like the Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club and the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society,” said Steward. “In the past we have had various folks affiliated with other outdoor groups and a group of students from the Cibola High School Future Farmers of America. We have had volunteers from a lot of different walks of life.”
Located in an extremely remote and isolated areas of the range, the Red Raven Tank is filled by water runoff from the desert’s rare rain events, situated with care near washes that will run with as little as one quarter of an inch of rain. The officials choose so-called secondary or tertiary washes, not large ones that will run so violently that the tank fills with sediment instead of water. Smaller washes don’t mean a smaller amount of water: 10,000 gallons of water are routinely captured in the Yuma desert’s rare rain events. In this exceptionally dry year, Arizona Game and Fish has had to haul 200,00 gallons of water to remote locations on the ranges by truck or helicopter.
“These tanks are a huge cost-saver for Arizona Game and Fish,” said Steward. “The more catchments we have, the fewer water hauls are necessary. One tank construction project pays for itself eliminating one helicopter haul.”
It also means fewer labor hours and more efficiency for YPG’s range scheduling staff, who need to coordinate the safe ingress and egress of the helicopters or trucks bringing a water haul across YPG’s remote, but active ranges. Experience has also shown that rainwater has a lower saline level than water from local wells, which means less sediment buildup to foul the water apparatus’ moving surfaces.
The wildlife drinker associated with the Red Raven Tank is meant specifically to help the Sonoran pronghorn continue its remarkable recovery efforts.
“The shallow 26-inch trough will allow pronghorn to step in for a drink while still scanning the horizon for danger,” said Steward.
Dubbed the desert ghost, the squat, reddish brown creature with white patches and dramatic horns is the fastest land creature in the United States, capable of bursts of about 60 miles per hour at full trot across its favored desert flats. Profoundly endangered in the early 2000s before rain and supplemental feedings stabilized their numbers, for nearly 15 years the creature has been intentionally transferred into historic habitat within the borders of the Kofa Wildlife Refuge and YPG to assist its remarkable recovery.
“During January, surveys by Arizona Game and Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in observations of over 232 pronghorn in the Kofa and YPG population,” said Steward. “That's pretty amazing considering that in 2001 there were 21 Sonoran pronghorn in the entire United States.”
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