Field & Stream to Cover Arizona Elk Society’s Wildlife Habitat Restoration Project
Arizona Game and Fish Department 04.24.14
When the Arizona Elk Society heads out on Saturday, May 3 with volunteers to help restore wildlife habitat near Payson, they will be joined by Field & Stream as part of the magazine’s Hero for a Day program. The magazine will be filming the family-friendly project, to highlight the work of the volunteers and the area’s outdoor opportunities. It will be broadcast on www.fieldandstream.com, a top destination for sportsmen, as part of a ten-video series.
The Arizona Elk Society scored a big win when they were able to facilitate the purchase of the 73,000-acre Buck Springs allotment near Payson, Arizona and remove livestock for the benefit of wildlife, like elk, mule deer, whitetails, wild turkeys, and bears. Their seasonal work projects aim to restore flows to creek channels, rehabilitate wet meadows and remove harmful livestock fences.
“The Arizona Elk Society is dedicated to improving wildlife habitat for elk in Arizona. The Buck Springs area is one of the most wildlife diverse areas of the state and elk are a big part of the area,” said Steve Clark, executive director of the Arizona Elk Society.
Volunteers at the event on May 3 will join trained sawyers in removing small white pine and pinion pine trees that are encroaching on wet meadows. In channel areas, teams with shovels will remove rocks in wheelbarrows, and lay down logs to create mini-waterfalls to dissipate waters. Other volunteers will remove four miles of barbed wire fencing that is harmful to big game and birds.
“Our commitment to the wildlife, forest and sportsmen of Arizona is the reason for doing the work we do. The volunteers that make up this workday understand that they have a big part in the conservation of the habitat,” Clark said.
Now in its fourth year, Field & Stream’s Hero for a Day program, with the support of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., works to connect volunteers with conservation workdays across the country and raise awareness of the local efforts of conservationists. The projects serve as a unique opportunity for the residents to take action in sustaining and protecting fish, wildlife, and habitat in their area. Field & Stream spotlights ten Hero for a Day projects each year, reporting on the effort in the magazine and online.
“The Hero for a Day program lets Field & Stream’s readers invest in their passion for hunting and fishing by helping to restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat,” said Mike Toth, executive editor of Field & Stream. “It’s a great opportunity to meet some of the nation’s most passionate conservationists, reconnect with the outdoors, roll up your sleeves and make a big difference in your community – all with just a single day’s work.”
Hero for a Day is an extension of Field & Stream’s Heroes of Conservation initiative, now in its ninth year, in which the magazine identifies and profiles three exceptional conservation volunteers in each of nine issues, and awards these volunteers with a $500 grant from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Six Heroes finalists will be selected and awarded $5,000 grants at the Heroes of Conservation Award Gala in the fall, and the 2014 Conservation Hero of the Year will win a new Toyota Tundra pickup truck.
