Increase Your Impact, Reduce Your Use of Plastics

***Not a sponsored ad. We personally purchased these products and wanted to share our opinion and how we use them in our everyday lives to reduce our use of plastics.***

We are on a mission to reduce the amount of plastics we use for Natural Restorations and in our personal lives. We started by taking coolers full of water to our volunteer events and asking volunteers to bring reusable water bottles and hydration backpacks to cut down on the number of single-use plastics used at our events. 

In January, we made a personal commitment to do more to reduce the amount of plastic we use. We quickly became overwhelmed with how many changes we needed to make or products we needed to give up if we wanted to made a real change. We decided rather than do nothing because we are trying to do everything, we would pick 3 ways we could immediately make a chance and then continue making a few changes each month. 

The first 3 we picked were plastic produce bags, plastic toothbrushes, and razors/razor blades. The items listed below are the products we purchased using our Amazon Smile account so that 0.5% of the purchase will be donated back to Natural Restorations. 

Bamboo Tooth Brushes ($11.99) - click HERE to view on Amazon. 

Twist Open Shaver ($13.95) - click HERE to view on Amazon.

Viking Blade 50 Count Platinum Coated Super Blades ($14.97) - click HERE to view on Amazon.

Earthwise Reusable Mesh Produce Bags - Set of 9 ($11.97) - Click HERE to view on Amazon.

Support Natural Restorations when you shop for everyday purchases on Amazon! You can support Natural Restorations each time you make a purchase on Amazon through smile.amazon.com, and it is at no cost to you!

Click this link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/81-4745055

Remember, always start at smile.amazon.com
and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Natural Restorations. Thank you for your support!

02/17/18 Lower Salt River Cleanup Video

Check out this amazing video made by Milo LeBaron from LeBaron & Carroll Insurance, one of our proud sponsors. This video is from our 02/17/18 Lower Salt River Land & Water Cleanup Event. 

Stay tuned, we are putting a webpage together with all of the pictures and videos from the event. 

Join us at our next Salt River Cleanup on Monday, April 2nd form 8AM to 12PM at Phon D Sutton Recreation Area. Click HERE to register and we will send you all of the details. 

Trail Cleanup on the Tonto National Forest

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We hosted a small cleanup on February 10th, 2018 on the Tonto National Forest - Mesa Ranger District. Not all of our cleanup events require large groups of volunteers, this was one of them. We teamed up with our friend, Mica Harkins, to bring a small group of volunteers out to a site along Bush Highway between Butcher Jones and the Bee-Line to remove 1,045 pounds of trash and six tires.

Click HERE to see all of the pictures and to watch a video we put together. 

Click HERE to join us at our next event. 

Santa Cruz River Cleanup in Tucson

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We hosted hosted our first Tucson cleanup along the Santa Cruz River from Camino Del Cerro to Sunset Road, on Saturday, February 3, 2018. 

120 volunteers, including 69 youth volunteers, helped us make a significant impact on the Santa Cruz River yesterday! 

Volunteers helped us remove 78 tires, 2 shopping carts, and we filled a 40 yard dumpster full of trash. We will have the dumpster weight in early March and will update this page. 

Check out all of the pictures HERE. 

Join us at an upcoming event, click HERE.

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Natural Restorations Receives Donation From Local Organizations

Left to right: CopperPoint President & CEO Marc Schmittlein; Milo LeBaron III, Principal; Natural Restorations Director of Field Operations ; and Natural Restorations Executive Director Nicole Corey.

We would like to thank everyone at CopperPoint Insurance Companies and LeBaron & Carroll LLC for presenting Natural Restorations with a $5,000 donation. We are excited to grow our relationship with both of these organizations and continue to provide volunteer opportunities for their employees and families. We are honored to have our program recognized by these two wonderful organizations. 

Giving back is an integral part of CopperPoint Insurance Companies and its workforce. CopperPoint believes corporate responsibility requires active engagement in the communities they serve through sponsorship, economic development and employee involvement. CopperPoint's focused philanthropy is an investment in Arizona and its future. 

LeBaron & Carroll LLC is making a difference in the community, in the workplace, and in people's lives. We are grateful to Milo and his team for their commitment to partnering with organizations that provide meaningful and beneficial programs to their customers and the community. Thank you for your continued support!

 

OdySea Aquarium's Conservation Expo

Stop by and see us at OdySea Aquarium's Conservation Expo on Saturday, January 13th from 9 am – 3 pm. FREE family-friendly festival focused on the conservation initiatives of over 30 organizations, including Natural Restorations. 

Meet multiple animal ambassadors up close, learn through exciting presentations by conservation experts, engage in interactive, hands-on activities, and pick up some healthy organic produce from the farmers market presented by Singh Farms.     

Free entry. Free parking. Open to all ages.

OdySea in the Desert (outside in the courtyard): 9500 E. Via De Ventura, Scottsdale, AZ 85256

Eventbrite page: https://conservationexpo2018.eventbrite.com

Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1670093313012008/

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135.5 Tons of Trash Removed in 2017

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Happy New Year! We're excited for 2018 and the opportunity to reach the goals we set for the new year. We are proud of what we accomplished in 2017. We removed 135.5 tons of trash from Arizona's outdoor recreation and wilderness areas in 2017, that's 271,000 pounds of trash no longer littering our beautiful state.  

In 2017, we launched our Dedicated Restoration Team and greatly increased our impact. Our team removed 138,740 pounds of trash and several panels of graffiti painted on rock faces through an Off-Highway Vehicle grant administered by the Arizona State Parks and Trails Board. Read more about that project HERE. Volunteers also helped us removed another 132,260 pounds of trash across 10 different cleanup events! Thank you to everyone who joined us in 2017 and helped us keep natural areas clean and open to the public to enjoy!⠀⠀

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In less than 3 years, we've removed 204.8 tons of trash from Arizona, that's 409,600 pounds of trash removed and we've only just begun!

Join us for an upcoming cleanup, click HERE to visit our Events Calendar. 

6260 Pounds of Trash Removed From Mesquite Wash

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Our Dedicated Restoration Team removed 6,260 pounds of trash from Mesquite Wash OHV Area, including lots of scattered trash near the entrances to both sides of Mesquite Wash, OHV & 4X4 parts, nails from pallet fires burned on roads and trails, target shooting trash, clothing, camping trash, broken glass, plastic bags & wrappers, broken shade canopies, illegally dumped landscape waste, plastic & glass bottles, aluminum cans, and much more. We also removed graffiti from several areas, including rocks painted for shooting targets. Check out all of the pictures HERE.

4795 Pounds of Trash Removed From the Salt River

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All of the pictures from our 1st Annual Green Friday Cleanup along the Lower Salt River are live on our website, click HERE to check them out. 

4795 pounds of trash and recyclables was removed by volunteers on Green Friday! 3440 pounds of trash removed, 1265 pounds of aluminum cans removed and recycled, and 90 pounds of rigid plastics removed and recycled from Granite Reef, Phon D Sutton, Coon Bluff, and Water Users Recreation Sites along the Lower Salt River. Huge thanks to all of the volunteers have came out the morning after Thanksgiving to #OptOutside with us and make a huge impact on the Salt River!

We would also like to thank the following organizations for their support of this event: American Rivers, Arizona Trail Association, Body Mechanicx Sports Therapy, DPR Construction, Friends of the Tonto National Forest, HuppyBar, The Home Depot off US-60 & Crismon, ICON Vehicle Dynamics, Insane Audio, Mountain Chicks, Parks Project, REI and the REI Goodyear Distribution Center, Safeway, Southwest Airlines at Phoenix, Salt River Project, TerraCycle, Tom Corey Images, Tom Story, U.S. Forest Service - Tonto National Forest - Mesa Ranger District, and Walmart Apache Junction. 

Check out our events calendar for upcoming cleanups, click HERE. 

Exciting News for Natural Restorations

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We want to share some exciting news with all of you! We recently received our 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation from the IRS and we will be moving away from our fiscal sponsorship with the Arizona Trail Association the beginning of next week. We are excited for all of the new opportunities to grow the organization and add new youth education components to our existing program. 

To read an article about our accomplishments over the last 32 months in the Autumn 2017 Arizona Trail Association Newsletter, click HERE and then click the link for Natural Restorations Benefits People & Places Throughout Arizona.

We would like to thank everyone at the Arizona Trail Association for their support and sponsorship, we would not have accomplished as much as we did in the first 32 months without them. This isn't the end of our relationship with the Arizona Trail Association! We love the trail and everyone involved with maintaining, promoting, and protecting the AZT, and we will continue to host cleanups on or along the AZT anytime there is a need.

Natural Restorations Partners with Outdoor Adventure Quest

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It's getting close to the end of the year and I'm sure every charity is hitting you up for donations for tax credits. While we do need your financial support, we have a super fun and new way for you to help Natural Restorations! We've partnered with Outdoor Adventure Quest to give our supporters an amazing outdoor experience enjoying all the public lands we work so hard to preserve. Go on their 3-day BUILD-YOUR-OWN Adventure Challenge and they'll donate 20% of ticket proceeds back to us! If you want to go the extra mile, make a team pact to collect as much trash as possible during your Quest! 

Here's a quick overview of what Outdoor Adventure Quest is: Grab your friends or family and make a team of 2-6 people and get ready for adventures that'll take you across Arizona. Together you'll plan out your 3-day road trip to accomplish as many challenge tasks as you can. There are 500+ challenge tasks organized into 10 different categories: HIKE, MTB/BIKE, CAMP, CLIMB, OUTDOOR EDUCATION, OFF ROADING, PADDLING, EXTREME SPORTS, ALTERNATIVE OUTDOORSMAN & everyone's favorite....DRINKABLES (breweries, wineries & distilleries). Your team can start and end anywhere in AZ and you'll compete against teams all over the state; each team chooses their own activities. It's a great way to see the beautiful state we live in, do some trail clean up, and create some hilarious memories with your team. 

And did we mention all Questers receive a FREE AZ State Park Day Pass to go to any parks in AZ on their Quest! 

Make sure you click HERE to register and ensure 20% of your ticket proceeds are donated to Natural Restorations.

National Public Lands Day ~ Mountain Chicks Partnership

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We're excited for National Public Lands Day this Saturday, September 30th. We partnered with the Arizona Chapter of Mountain Chicks for the first ever Mountain Chicks Trail Cleanup! Please note registration is closed for this event, but we’ll be sharing pictures and videos soon so stay tuned!

We're taking a small group of Mountain Chicks along the Bell Trail, southeast of Sedona, to the "Crack" for a trash cleanup. We're hiking 3.5 miles in, picking up trash from the area, spending some time at the swimming hole, hanging out and getting to know each other, and then hiking the collected trash out 3.5 miles.

A few months ago, Nicole from NR was looking for inspiration from women who share her passion for getting outside and exploring the great outdoors. She joined a group on Facebook called Mountain Chicks to connect with other women who love hiking and the outdoors. Mountain Chicks was created to give women who hike more options. We are extremely proud to partner with such an amazing organization that shares our passion for the great outdoors!

Mountain Chicks is not just for women, "We want you to bring your friends, your guy friends, your furry friends, and whoever else is in your life, on adventures with us! No one owns the outdoors and we're not trying to, which means we're all inclusive!"

This is the first of many cleanup collaborations between Mountain Chicks and Natural Restorations, so make sure you join a chapter near you so you don’t miss out on the next one!

Photo by @Lena_Koop_Photography

Huppybar Discount for Natural Restorations

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We had the opportunity to try HuppyBar a few weeks ago at the Arizona Trail Day Celebration in Flagstaff and we cannot stop talking about how good they are, the clean ingredients used in each bar, and how much our Natural Restorations Community would love not only the bars, but the vision behind them. 

We are very excited to team up with our friends at Huppybar to bring you a Natural Restorations discount for 15% off your purchase with Huppybar when you use the code NR15 during checkout. You will also start to see Huppybars at some upcoming cleanup events. Click HERE to get yours today and support this amazing Flagstaff-based business. 

Did you know Huppybar makes the Official Energy Bar of the Arizona National Scenic Trail? Not only does the AZT Wild Mesquite Bar taste amazing, they use AZ-grown ingredients and the bars are grain, gluten, soy, and dairy free, contain no preservatives, refined sugars, or GMOs, and a portion of the proceeds from this bar will help maintain and protect the Arizona National Scenic Trail. 

5,420 Pounds of Trash Removed From the Coconino National Forest

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Our cleanup project along the Arizona Trail and the areas surrounding the trail on Sunday, September 10th, was a huge success!

52 volunteers, including 30 volunteers under the age of 18 years old, helped us remove 5,420 pounds of trash from the area.

That's 2.71 tons of trash is no longer littering our National Forest lands.

Click HERE to view pictures from the cleanup. 

Campfire Defender ~ Exclusive Natural Restorations Discount

We always bring our Campfire Defender with us when we go camping. 

We always bring our Campfire Defender with us when we go camping. 

In May, we attended the Overland Expo in Flagstaff, Arizona. We walked by the Campfire Defender display, immediately stopped in our tracks, & wanted to learn more. Triston gave us a demonstration of the product & we went on our way. We couldn't stop thinking about how many times we've been worried about our campfire when the wind picks up & how the Campfire Defender would put an end to worrying about potentially starting a forest fire. We went back & purchased one that day & it goes with us anytime we go camping to provide peace of mind. 

We are very excited to team up with Campfire Defender to bring you an exclusive Natural Restorations discount for 50% off your purchase with Campfire Defender when you use the code NaturalRestorations during checkout. 

 

7,040 Pounds of Trash Removed from Cinder Hills OHV Area

Our Dedicated Restorations Team removed 7,040 pounds of trash, including thousands of nails from illegal pallet fires burned on roads and trails, from the Cinder Hills OHV Are in #Flagstaff this summer. We're extremely proud of the work our team has accomplished since launching in February. Our Team has removed more than 59 tons of trash through projects funded by a grant from the OHV-Fund managed by Arizona State Park Board. 

Including volunteer events, we have removed more than 114 tons of trash in 2017, that's more than 228,000 pounds of trash no longer littering outdoor recreation & wilderness areas across our state! Thank you so much to every who volunteers with us & supports our mission! 

We have a lot of great volunteer opportunities coming up, check out our Events Calendar. 

9/10/17 Trash Cleanup Along the Arizona Trail Behind Mary's Caf in Flagstaff - 9AM to Noon

9/23/17 Cinder Hills OHV Area Trash Cleanu in Flagstaff - 9AM to 1PM

10/21/17 Lower Sycamore Cleanu - 8AM to Noon

11/24/17 Green Friday Salt River Cleanu - 8AM to Noon