The recent Bryce fire in Graham County Arizona has brought the danger of wildfire in our salt cedar thickets to light for a lot of people. Gila Watershed Partnership does the ongoing work of removing tamarisk/salt cedar and replacing it with native plants, but when fires come, it is very difficult to pivot to use funds in an emergency manner.

Volunteers plant native vegetation in 2024. This site has now completely burned.

The restoration crew for GWP has an opportunity to reseed anywhere ash has accumulated, but where the ground has not been scorched. Native seed is very expensive. Please help us provide GWP with enough funds to reseed approximately 30 acres of burned area before the monsoon season hits. This could go a long way toward establishing native plants in some areas that have been under the control of the salt cedar for many decades.

Why does it matter? A mature salt cedar can use up to 200 gallons of water per day. Well, so can a mature cottonwood. But the big difference is that the invasive salt cedar becomes a monoculture in which 1,000 or more plants will take over an acre of land, while a "thick" cottonwood grove will have no more than 50 trees on an acre, while also sharing the space with other native plants that help stabilize the river banks and provide food and shelter to our native fauna.

Having lost both salt cedar and and some beautiful old-growth cottonwood groves in this fire, we need to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. Please help GWP with this important work!

Every dollar counts! Thank you for your assistance.