| September 11, 1991 |
Dear Friends and Volunteers,
We want to welcome you to the twenty-third year of the "Volunteer Desert Water and Wildlife Survey" (VDWWS). This volunteer program may be the most successful longest running program of its kind in the nation. It was begun in 1969 when the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and interested sportsman and conservation groups, including the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep, formed an agreement to: (A) provide for a continuing census of desert wildlife and (B) to improve habitat for that wildlife.
The VDWWS volunteers have provided the manpower to conduct 22 desert surveys. They have also censused bighorn sheep populations in the San Gabriel Mountains for the past 17 years. The VDWWS has constructed over 70 Big Game Guzzlers. (BGG's are water collection, storage and drinking devices). They have also developed over 100 springs to ensure that thirsty critters will have a supply of water.
We want to congratulate you on lest seasons accomplishments. The 1991 VDWWS water projects were a great success. Two new BGG's were installed. Three existing BGG's were rebuilt and/or repaired. Landells Spring was developed and two census were conducted. We are confident that with your continued support 1992 will be an even greater success.
Over the years the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep has been a valuable partner in assisting the D.F.G. and B.L.M. in their effort to provide water for bighorn sheep and other desert wildlife. The S.C.B.S. will continue to administer the volunteer paperwork and provide leaders and labor on the waterhole projects.
It you would like to volunteer in this vital desert program, call Dick Conti, the waterhole coordinator for the S.C.B.S. at (213) 256-0463. Tell him which projects you are interested in and about two weeks prior to that project he will mail you a letter describing what we are going to do and other particulars you will need to know. You will also receive a map