Maintenance team tames gophers gone wild

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Ryan DeCamp
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  When the Luke Air Force Base intramural softball playoffs and flag football seasons start in the coming weeks, Thunderbolts can thank the outdoor maintenance crew for being able to play. In a scene straight out of Caddyshack, gophers felt right at home at Luke Air Force Base's football and softball fields. Unlike the movie, these gophers were not just a nuisance, they were dangerous. 

The fitness center cancelled the first half of the 2007 intramural softball season because of gopher holes. Each hole can run at least four inches deep and reach six inches wide. 

"We started out catching six a day and we only had six traps," said Zell Cameron, 56th Force Support Squadron fitness center maintenance supervisor. "While we were catching those we saw others right in front of us." 

According to accident reports from the 56th Fighter Wing Ground Safety Office, from January to August of that year, four Airmen were injured on the softball fields stepping into gopher holes. They spent a combined four days on quarters and 26 days on limited duty.
It gets worse. In August, an Airman doing physical training spent 60 days on limited duty after breaking an ankle after stepping into a gopher hole.
Then in October 2007, Cameron arrived at the fitness center. He and his crew of Jim Green and Dion Perry put special emphasis on the gophers. 

"When I got here you could look at any softball field and see 50 to 75 holes in the outfield alone," Cameron said. "It took eight months to get to the point where we could walk out there and not think about gophers. From 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day all we did was clear the traps and fill in the gopher holes." 

When Cameron arrived, the team consulted the 56th Civil Engineer Squadron's Pest Management office to find the best way to remove the gophers.
Trapping is the safest, most humane and cost effective method, according to Master Sgt. Randy Ress, 56th CES pest management NCO-in-charge, 

"If the trap catches the gopher the way it's intended, it's instantaneous," Ress said. "The gopher feels very little pain. It's like a mouse trap in that the gopher passes on before they realize what's happened." 

Cameron, James and Perry asked for money and training. They bought 14 more traps and asked pest control to train the crew. After a four-hour training session, the outdoor maintenance team knew they could handle the gophers without outside help. 

The training paid off. 

Records from the ground safety office show the gopher holes have caused no injuries since the outdoor maintenance staff made the gopher holes a priority. 

"The holes were a major complaint," said Jim Green, 56th FSS Fitness Center maintenance team member. "There were so many gopher holes no one could play safely on the fields. The holes made the place look awful. Since we started we've reduced the number to basically zero. We keep daily tabs on it." 

The team has caught 138 gophers since January 2008. The football field has been gopher free since last December, Cameron added. 

"When we started we caught four a day and now we're lucky if we catch one a week," Green said. 

Cameron said they gave the gophers another place to live and it is working out well, he said. 

"We don't trap in the area next to the tennis courts," Cameron said. "We've gotten them off our playing fields and onto this other space and the gophers are accepting that. It's like an agreement. If you go over there you will not get trapped. We don't want to harm the animals if we don't have to."