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During the Resource Tour Holden Hergert from NRCS explains the Big Horn Riverbank Restoration Project.
Chip Axtell, Holden Hergert, Dara Culp, and Jackie Dorothy stand near the building said to be the old Andersonville jail.
by Kathy Sorensen
The Hot Springs County Weed and Pest Control District along with the Hot Springs Conservation District and the Thermopolis office of the Natural Resource Conservation Service hosted the annual Resource Tour last week.
The tour made three stops on the V Ranch. The first stop revisited a cheatgrass control project above the Swallow Place. First treated in 2020, cheatgrass covered approximately 60-66% of the treated pasture. Herbicides Rejuvra and a Rejuvra/Plateau mix were applied in two different test plots. The 2024 count for cheat grass is 1-4% coverage, showing remarkable efficacy.
The second stop highlighted a solar pump project funded in part by drought relief funding from the Farm Service Agency that was installed in 2022 and is capable of providing 25 gallons per minute of drinking water for livestock.
The third stop was part of the Kirby Creek Coordinated Resource Management Group projects. The Twin Tubes Project was finished around 2012 to help control the flooding on Kirby Creek. A dike was rebuilt, and a control structure installed to control the water volume coming down the creek.
The final stop of the tour was the Bighorn River Ranch's Bighorn Riverbank Restoration Project. This was featured on the 2021 Resource Tour as a newly completed project. This year's visit was marked by excellent reestablishment of grass with new willow and cottonwood regrowth.
Jackie Dorothy provided tour participants information about Andersonville and the old townsite of Thermopolis across the Bighorn River.
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