Saturday, April 28th was San Jacinto Wildlife Area’s Annual Hunter’s Education Class. Tom Trakes, of San Jacinto Wildlife Area, reported that 22 new hunters passed their Hunter’s Education test and are now eligible to be fully licensed hunters in the State of California. The students ranged in age from about 9 years old to 60 and included 5 young ladies also joining the ranks of we hunters.
Tom said that Saturday was a busy day at San Jacinto as the Boy Scouts were also out on the refuge doing some community service projects. 23 Scouts, along with their leaders and parents, about 40 people total, were out in the riparian habitat in the upland area pulling out old dead trees and planting new trees. About 300 new cottonwood and willow trees were planted in the upland area’s riparian habitat. In the future the scouts will also be re-building the upland check-in kiosk and re-doing the tour signs on the wildlife area.
Also last Saturday Tom said a group of 7 kids and their parents from Bryant Park Head Start Program came out for a conservation walk. (Bryant Park Head Start was one of the beneficiaries of this past season’s toy drive at San Jacinto). Each of the kids and their parents also planted a tree in the upland riparian habitat.
The hunter’s education students, the scouts, the Bryant Park kids and their respective parents and leaders all enjoyed a nice barbecue lunch together at the San Jacinto Headquarters at midday.
Tom says by May 15th the refuge will be getting a load of gravel and they have already started raising the “A” lot and the road to the “A” lot (which is west of the viewing platform at “B” pond) by about 2 feet. Once that is raised the gravel will be spread on top of it so it will be accessible on wet days (as long as its not “too wet”).
The next activity for hunters will be a workday at San Jacinto Wildlife Area, probably the last Saturday in July. This will be a general workday to clean out water control structures and plan and perhaps build or replace some blinds in the waterfowl area. There will then be at least one additional workday, likely in early September, to finish up what work is needed and to brush up the blinds. Keep your eye on SoCalHunt for announcements of the exact dates when these are set.
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