May 2021 Bush Fire Replanting Project
Lower Sycamore - Tonto National Forest
In May 2021, we started working with the Tonto National Forest Service - Mesa Ranger District and Jenny Vitale on Stage 1 of the Bush Fire Replanting Project and we are honored to be a part of it.
Native desert cacti including Barrel, Saguaro, Hedgehog, Prickly Pear, & Cholla were rescued from several Phoenix area construction sites & have been safely transported & replanted at the top of Lower Sycamore on the Tonto National Forest.
The cactus on the left was burned in the Bush Fire and the cactus on the right is a transplanted cactus that was saved from a construction site.
The cacti planted at Lower Sycamore were salvaged with permission from several Phoenix area construction sites. We couldn’t be happier to help replant them in an area that desperately needs them, Lower Sycamore and several other locations on the Tonto National Forest.
Thank you to everyone at the Tonto National Forest Service - Mesa Ranger District for all of your help and support! Thanks to Jenny Vitale, Toll Brothers Arizona, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and several private land owners for helping make this project possible.
We would also like to thank Ryan Morin, a military veteran on our Dedicated Restoration Team for helping with the project! And thank you to his wife, Burt, for her help!
It means so much to us to be a part of this Replanting Project because of our love & commitment to Lower Sycamore and all things Tonto National Forest. Between our Dedicated Restoration Team projects and our volunteer events, we've removed over 115 tons of trash from Lower Sycamore. It has been devastating to drive through the area after the Bush Fire & see the damage left behind. To be able to physically do something to bring life back to this area is extremely rewarding!
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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.
We would like to thank Bingham Equipment for donating a Stihl Earth Auguer & 2 bits in 2020 to help us launch our replanting program. We continue to use them on all of our replanting projects.
Thank you to our friend, Brittany Morin, for picking up a bunch of trash in the replanting area!
