Blue Mesa Restoration — 2025-11-01 Saturday (Giveback) (Patreon)

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The chapter numbers in today's post relate to The Chosen storyline, not Ailana's Diary.

Chapter 07: GOOD MORNING by Ailana Geven

Here I am in Gunnison, Colorado. Today, I’m joining a project to do some conservation work in an area damaged by wildfires.

A slight detail that was reported incorrectly! The hotel is The Gunnison Inn at Dos Rios. Izzy said to blame her and that she would blame Paul Charm for getting the name wrong earlier!

I’m just out of bed, but I wanted to post a good morning. The plan today is pretty simple. Breakfast, then to the site.

We’re heading west along US 50 into the Curecanti National Recreation Area. We’ll be addressing some wildfire scars around Blue Mesa Reservoir. Sasha and I connected with Izzy and her friends—the team from The Pay It Forward Society. All together, there are ten of them.

The team managers are Paul Charm and Rebecca Flint. Rebecca said Sasha and I could team up with Hannah Madison and Emma Knox. Our job will be to go into the area ahead of those that are actually planting the trees. We’ll be measuring and marking locations. We’ll clear away any debris that seems like it would interfere with shovels—just dragging it away.

In other places around here, there are some solar powered watering systems. Two of the guys, Merritt Gray and Kent Marlon (Kent is an electrician and Merritt is an engineer) will be working on getting those on line. Final connections and such…

The rest of the team will be planting pine saplings. In a few years, with help from people doing this kind of work, the area damaged by the wildfires will be almost back to normal.

That’s it for now! Watch for more updates as the day goes on.

The Storylines are the heart of Ailana Geven Imagines, and they are found in the Collections section of the site.

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Pleast all characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.

Chapter 08: SUM OF THE PARTS by Sasha Baek-Everett

I met my twin! I’m with Hannah Madison, and since some of you might not be able to tell, I’m on the left holding the bottle!

I know we aren’t identical, but from the back? Ask Emma!

I was dragging a big branch away from a planting area and she came up to me from behind.

“I kinda wish I was working on the pumps with Merritt,” she said.

I turned around. “He seems pretty nice.”

She responded as if I should already know that. “Well, of course he is…”

Then she realized I wasn’t Hannah. “Oh… Sasha!”

We laughed it off, and she reprised her claim that Merritt was a nice guy. Then, she helped me drag the big branch away.

Sasha, Emma, Ailana and I are measuring out where to put the saplings that others on the team are planting. We’re also moving anything away that seems to need to be moved and putting in places where erosion has started to be excessive.

For instance, Emma and I drug the branch and laid it in a little gully that was forming. It will help slow down the runoff and reduce further damage.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” we were told by the National Park Service’s project coordinator. “Sometimes, nature just needs a little help.”

The outcome isn’t just planting a tree. Restoration comes as the sum of a lot of little things.

Erosion control + tree planting + reseeding native ground covers = more than any one of those things alone.

Knowing we’re making a difference is really nice. I’m hoping to see a lot of progress before we get back on a plane Sunday night!

Stick around for more updates later.

Chapter 09: LITTLE BY LITTLE by Emma Knox

Hey everybody! I’m a long way from Vicksburg! Truth is, I can’t remember ever being west of the Mississippi River, except a few times just over the bridge into Arkansas.

Today, I’m out in Colorado, and I got teamed up with @ailana.geven as part of The Pay It Forward Society’s project out here near Blue Mesa Reservoir. Izzy has known Ailana since they used to do modeling together nearly ten years ago.

All along US Route 50, there’s park land, and a while back wildfires damaged parts of it. What me and Ailana are doing is going along the hillside measuring out where to put in little pine saplings.

It reminds me of something I saw about an hour south of Vicksburg on a biology class field trip. We went down to Homochitto National Forest where they harvest big loblolly pines, and they showed us how they replant them. ‘Course they told us all about growing and harvesting, too.

But here in Blue Mesa, we’re just measuring out where to put them, and others on the team are coming behind us and putting the seedlings in. There’s a tool called a dibble bar to make it easier. They call what we’re doing “heeling in” the saplings.

Me and Ailana are also moving anything out of the way and putting it where erosion is a problem. After the wildfires, all the groundcover’s gone, so when it rains or when the snow melts, there’s nothing much to stop the erosion. We’ve been dragging logs and pushing rocks into little ditches.

There’s other crews that’ll work on the erosion problem, so mainly our team plus Ailana and Sasha are working on planting the little saplings.

We’re also putting out seeds that are supposed to come up in the spring, and on top of that. It’s called dormant seeding on account the ground is too cold for the seeds to sprout now.

Well, that’s about all I can say for now, but watch for more updates later!

Chapter 10: GOOD NIGHT by Ailana Geven

What a day! Between hiking slopes, moving brush, and marking planting spots, my legs are officially protesting—but in the best way. The team got so much done today at the Blue Mesa restoration site. You can actually see the landscape start to change when a little effort adds up across so many hands.

We just finished dinner at The Dive in downtown Gunnison. Izzy ordered the Watermelon Salad and loved it. Sasha went classic with the Buttermilk Chicken sandwich, and I tried the Trout Dip and the Remy-Wich (smoked pork with caramelized onions—so good).

The place had that local, laid-back energy you only find in small mountain towns—nothing fancy, just great food, good people, and laughter that bounces off every table. The rest of the crew spread out between burgers, poutine, and steak frites. No one left hungry.

Izzy and I decided the best way to end the night was here at the inn’s hot tub, soaking and catching up. She recently came down to South Padre Island to talk about Kent— how hard he works, and how much time he spends volunteering. Today, I met him and had a chance to chat over lunch. I walked away a believer! I told her she was absolutely right—he’s solid, grounded, and genuinely kind.

Now it’s quiet. The wind’s tapping the windows, the stars are somewhere above the clouds, and the hot water is working its magic on sore muscles. These are the moments I love most—the pause between days when everything feels possible again.

May you find warmth, rest, and something kind waiting for you at the end of your day.

Good night.

Be your best you!

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