I had a couple of free days so decided to head over to Imperial National Wildlife Refuge and see if I could find some Wild Burros and Desert Bighorn Sheep.
About 30 miles north of Yuma, Arizona sits Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, which is a 26,000 acre refuge stretching 30 miles along the Colorado River.
What makes the refuge special is that the land close to the river is lush luring birds from all of North America. However, as you head east from that lush terrain you find land which more resembles the moon than anything else -- much of it volcanic ash. This is where Wild (feral) Burros call "home."
As you continue north on the dirt 4 x 4 road (high clearance vehicles only) it becomes mountainous (Trigo Mountains) and home to Desert Bighorn Sheep.
This road (Red Cloud Mine Road) is mostly dirt, rock, and or sand. It goes beyond the NWR and into a section of the Yuma Proving Ground, then into land once owned by the Red Cloud Mine dating back to before 1881. (The road hasn't been improved since then either).
The drive from the Visitor's Center at INWR to the old mine site and back takes a good two and a half hours. I got there the first day around noon. I went out and back twice not seeing either Desert Bighorn Sheep or Feral Burros.
I got to the refuge the following morning just at dawn and came across one Feral Burro almost immediately. I continued out to the mine and back, then out to the mine and back again coming across five Feral Burros just before leaving the refuge.
A note about the Burros. I happen to think Burros are beautiful. I've had the pleasure of seeing them in the wild several times, here at Imperial, also Cabeza Prieta NWR along the US/Mexico border, and in Northern Nevada. I have wonderful stories and memories of each time. However, there is another point of view -- sadly. Many people think the Wild Burros are destructive. Of course they are no more destructive than domestic cattle, sheep, goats, etc. But those people have convinced Fish and Game to collect and destroy the Burros. Part of their reasoning is that they are not native. Of course, cattle, sheep, goats, etc. aren't native either. Burros were brought to America from the deserts of Africa by prospectors and explorers because they could survive in the southwest desert heat. Once mines played out or explorers left the area they left the Burros behind. Such is likely the case with the Red Cloud Mine. That was 150 to 175 years ago. Obviously many Burro generations have passed since then. The last time I was at Imperial was in June of 2012 and they were rounding up 325 Burros for slaughter. This is probably the reason I didn't find many this trip.
As for the Desert Bighorn Sheep, I did not see a one for the first time in eight trips to this area.
Here are a few photos though of the Burros:
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