Save Our saguaros
RESTORING AN ICONIC LANDSCAPE
11/07/21 four peaks replanting
On Sunday, November 7th, 2021 we teamed up with Four Peaks Brewing Co., the US Forest Service Tonto National Forest, the National Forest Foundation, Tonto Recreation Alliance, & Copperstate 4 Wheelers for a Save Our Saguaro’s Volunteer Event. Volunteers helped us plant over 300 native desert cacti, flowers, & grasses to revegetate the burn scar.
Learn More about the 2020 Bush Fire
On June 13th, 2020 an individual driving south on SR87 from Payson to Phoenix, noticed their car was overheating and smoke was coming out from underneath. They pulled off the highway to safely inspect the vehicle. However, they pulled onto dry grass and the heat from the brakes sparked the 5th largest wildlife in Arizona history.
Years of extreme drought and increased fuel loads (largely made up of nonnative, invasive weeds and shrubs) from the few spring rains carried the flames through 193,455 acres of the Tonto National Forest. It devastated multiple ecosystems in the Four Peaks Wilderness Area as the fire burned over the top of Four Peaks and back down towards Roosevelt Lake. Unfortunately, most of the fire occurred in the Sonoran Desert, an ecosystem that has not evolved or adapted to wildfires. We are dedicated to the long-term efforts to replant the Bush Fire Burn Scar.
With the impact to over 80,000 iconic saguaros and an upwelling of desire to assist from the local community, an initiative was born: restoring and revegetating portions of the Bush Fire burn scar over the next 5-10 years.
CLICK ON ANY PICTURE FOR FULL-SIZE IMAGE GALLERY
Watering Cacti in the desert
Watering cacti is not only valuable in providing initial water to reduce transplant shock, it also aids in compacting the soil around the freshly planted root network. This was accomplished by providing each newly planted cacti with several gallons of water, no easy task in the middle of the desert.
