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Big
Meadow
(Sequoia National Forest)
(Aug
4- 7, 2005)
Page Three
The Bear Box
Project
Sequoia National Park recently upgraded their bear
boxes for larger capacity and improved resistance to bears. They
donated the old ones to us for use at Rancheria campground at
Huntington Lake and other campgrounds where needed.
This project involved collecting the old boxes at Dorst Campground, loading them onto a flat-bed 18-wheeler, (Thank You to Herb at Simon and Simon Enterprises of Clovis) deliver them to Huntington, and then do it again the next day. We moved about 150 boxes this weekend in two trips, and it was WORK! From 7am until 5pm the crew worked to collect the bear boxes and stage them for loading.
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The day started early as the crew set out to load the bear boxes and bring them to the loading area. |
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Shane drives the crew. |
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The old bear boxes are collected from the various campsites and loaded onto the lift... |
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After lifting it's slid onto the truck bed... |
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...and it takes 4 people to do it. Notice the new bear box in the lower left corner. |
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Back at the staging area, they are moved onto the "pallet" where the fork lift will place them on the flatbed trailer. |
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...onto the lift... Notice the three children watching in the background; they were mesmerized watching the operation. |
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Transfixed... |
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Cutest little girl you ever did see. A real camper; count the mosquito bites on her face... |
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Notice the concrete that is attached to every box. Very heavy. |
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...lowered to the ground... |
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...moved onto the makeshift pallet. |
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...and the process is repeated all day until over 70 boxes are retrieved and stacked. |
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It soon became apparent that this was not going to work... |
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Let's do it the easy way. |
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Shane watches the work in progress... |
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Bear boxes are stacked in the staging area waiting to be fork-lifted into place on the flatbed trailer. |
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...carefully placing each load... |
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...packing them in tight to get as many on the trailer as possible. |
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Ahh... perfect! |
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Bruce drives the smaller forklift moving the boxes around the staging area in order to make it easy for the larger forklift to load. |
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Finally, the bear boxes are loaded and the load is secured by Herb. |
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A job well done. 2:30pm; Now, it's time for the 5 hour drive to Huntington Lake. And back to repeat the process Sunday.
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132 E. Nees #107
Fresno, CA 93711
1-800-468-8348
559-435-2626
Fax 559-435-7620
