Upper Cadron Trip Report - A Fayetteville Shale Update

[Cowper]

I'll post when I get ready to do the Upper Upper Upper Cadron (whatever section it's called) if you want to go.

Yes, please do. And don't feel like running water is a prerequisite. My take on this one is that it fits more in the category of exploration / general screwing around, so I really don’t care if we have water or not, it’s all about not sitting on the couch. I’ll be tied up with work until after the first week of December, after that, if we get a warm day (by December standards) I could go any day of the week since I have to “burn” all my remaining vacation before January 1. (We’ve got a lovely “use it or lose it” policy.)

[Karla]

Gary and I would probably be in for this run for the scenery. Maybe with some luck a little rain to bring it up some. Give me a chance to try out my solo canoe.

Karla

[Roger]

Cowper, maybe early in December on a good weekend? I got's me some schoolwork to do during the week.

I guess that means turkey-day weekend is out for you? Kim and I might be enjoying a 5-day weekend at home if you happen to get some time. Right now, I'm planning on it.

[Trismegistus]

In my flames against oil and gas development within the Cadron Watershed I sometimes fail to emphasize the good deeds of those hired to explore and exploit the Fayetteville shale deposits.

1) A portion of the CCO property is currently under lease for seismic testing and the group overseeing the drilling and laying of the lines has been quite courteous and is even taking extra care to minimize damage to flora and fauna using their smallest drill lines and keeping survey flags to a minimum. This past weekend while a couple of friends of mine were harvesting some deer off the property the crews even elected to postpone their work for a couple of hours -- not so much for their protection, but rather so as not to spoil the hunt. I might also add that the deer we have removed this year are some of the fattest deer we've have ever harvested -- someone in the area must have set out a lot of corn/grain this summer.

2) The companies have removed a lot of the debris that broke loose from the fords and patoon bridges -- all that is required by law anyway. The remaining debris -- long 20 foot -- timbers that are scattered all up and down the river are being left behind and "are for the taking". A gentleman -- John Hutchcraft -- is now looking to put together a "timber raft" operation upstream of CCO with the intent to salvage this timber for use as residential footings. The idea is to collect the timber in a pool above Big Bertha and then float it down to CCO or Pinnacle Springs bridge later this winter. This is of interest from a historical perspective as there hasn't been any log rafts on the Cadron for nearly a hundred years since the white oak was originally harvested from the watershed.

[DeBo]

I'm glad that they are being courteous. They should be on their best behavior, since several complaints have been recently turned in to ADEQ about the sediment and the wreckage in the stream.