04/05/2025

Saguaro REPlanting in the Bush Fire Burn Scar with HDR

On Saturday, April 5th, 2025, 73 volunteers, including 7 youth volunteers, joined us for a Bush Fire Burn Scar Cactus Replanting & Invasives Removal Event at Four Peaks on the Tonto National Forest.

Volunteers helped us plant 83 saguaros ranging from 2-ft to 4-1/2-ft, spread 25 pounds of Sonoran Desert wildflower seed mix, & bag invasive grasses from a section of the burn scar.

This project was financed by a grant from the Arizona Department of Forestry & Fire Management. We are grateful for their support of our work restoring the Bush Fire Burn Scar! ⁠Thank you to Arizona Wholesale Growers for providing deep discounts on the saguaros purchased for the event & delivering to a remote location! ⁠Thank you to Midwestern University’s WEZAAM Audubon on Campus Chapter⁠ for donating funds to purchase 3 2-foot saguaros! ⁠They also brought a few feather dusters, creosote & chuparosa! ⁠

Our Dedicated Restoration Team walked volunteers through a step-by-step demonstration on the process of planting a saguaro and setting it up for the best chance of long-term survival before everyone started planting.

Volunteers worked in groups to get each saguaro from the staging area, using special leather/kevlar gloves to protect their hands, over to a suitable planting location. Once they had locations selected, they began digging holes, putting the saguaros in the ground with the marking tape knot facing north, making sure they are not too deep, too shallow, or leaning.

Volunteers asked members of our team check each saguaro before moving onto the next one to ensure we could give feedback if any changes needed to be made.

In addition to grant support from Arizona Department of Forestry & Fire Management, projects like this would not be possible without the support of our Sponsors:

Volunteers learned about planting saguaros for long-term survival & watched demos

Invasive Grass & Plant Removal

Invasive grasses & plants helped fuel the 2020 Bush Fire. Post-fire, the landscape has been dominated with invasive plants & grasses, which provide fuel for fires & out-complete native species trying to come back from the fire. By removing this competition factor, reseeding, & replanting native cacti, native plants have a greater chance of reestablishing areas formerly overrun by invasive grasses & plants post-fire. Expanding our project area, creating new firebreaks, & maintaining our project areas will help protect the area from catastrophic wildfires.

Volunteers helped us spread 25 pounds of native wildflower seed mix.

The wildflower seed mix included Mexican Gold Poppy, Desert Globe Mallow, Desert Lupine, Desert Marigold, & Desert Bluebells. ⁠

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 a little water, no easy task in the middle of the desert. We used the water trailer that we purchased a few years ago through a grant from the National Forest Foundation.

We love images like this one above & Below that help show how much invasive grass has been removed from the area, helping to reduce fire risk.

Thank you to everyone at Arizona Wholesale Growers for providing us with deep discounts on saguaros in addition to delivering to our project site at Four Peaks!

Thank you to the youth volunteers who came out on a Saturday morning to help us plant saguaros, bag invasive grass, & spread wildflower seed mix.

RAFFLE WINNERS

Thank you to Climbing for the Community for donating a Climbing Class! Thank you to Tru Flask for donating 40oz Natural Restorations bottles! We also gave away form Natural Restorations hats.

Thank you to everyone at Stellar Adventures for donating the delivery & use of their portable bathrooms for volunteers, we are grateful for your continued suport!

Click HERE to check out our Events Calendar & register for a cleanup.

Visit our replanting page to view additional replanting projects

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 2020 BUSH FIRE

On June 13th, 2020 the 5th largest wildlife in Arizona history was sparked when an individual driving south on SR87 from Payson to Phoenix, noticed their car was overheating. They pulled off the highway to safely inspect the vehicle, but they parked on dry grass and the heat from their brakes sparked the fire.

Flames carried 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 not evolved or adapted to wildfires. With the impact to over 80,000 iconic saguaros and thousands of other native desert cacti, plants, and trees, Natural Restorations is dedicated to the long-term efforts to restore and revegetate this burn scar.