Over the years, I ve seen the changes within our land here.
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But he ran into an issue. “The river bottom where I gather material on the south side is where Mesa’s sewage plant is.”
He believes the sewage plant’s discharges affect the groundwater and makes the bark too brittle to use as post ties.
“The bark broke too easily, and I couldn’t use it to tie anything down,” he said. Manuel had to resort to wire to finish the watto.
Manuel also said that arrowweed (
Pluchea sericea) doesn’t grow as abundantly as it once did. Not only is it in short supply due to the decline of riparian areas, but when he does find it, the plants have growths or other imperfections. That means he has to travel to more isolated areas to gather arrowweed that hasn’t been affected by human activity.