Volunteers clear disused fence from Gomez Peak - Silvercity Daily Press

“Let’s roll!” was the mantra of the day as Luke Koenig, Gila representative for the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, and six volunteers took down old, rusted barbed wire from the Gomez Peak Trail Complex earlier this month.“It’s hard work, but very rewarding,” said one volunteer. “Freeing up the land from the bondage of what some call ‘devil’s rope’ makes it safer for wildlife and brings back a sense of naturalness to the landscape.”The barbed wire dated back many decades and, for some hikers, had come to define parts of the popular trail system north of Silver City, adjacent to the Little Walnut Picnic Area.“Rather than describing a trail as the one just past the barbed wire fence, one will now describe the location as ‘just past the old large juniper tree that leans heavily to the right,’” Koenig noted.The trail complex area is extremely thick with mountain mahogany and scrub oak trees, so the group divided into separate crews. A lead crew worked to trim the tangle of branches that had enshrouded the ancient fencing in order to free up a path so the real work could be done. They were followed by another crew cutting the wires which attached the barbed wire to the upright wooden stays and fence posts and, finally, came the crew which, with thick leather gloves, carefully wound up the old wire into 3-foot-diameter rolls.After a few breaks and lunch, the group hauled most of the rolls out to the nearest trail and set them in piles off to the side, where Forest Service personnel agreed to gather them and haul them away.“There is more wire to be removed, and there will be other opportunities to participate in the near future,” Koenig said. “I’m very pleased with the amount of work we did today. It was a great crew.”

The event was coordinated with and sanctioned by the Gila National Forest. For more information or to participate in future events, contact Koenig at [email protected].