In Arizona's high country, restoring forest health is a group effort
PAYSON, AZ — Interagency collaboration is vital in environmental conservation efforts, and the partnership between Salt River Project, the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, the National Forest Foundation and the Arizona Game and Fish Department is no different.
These organizations and agencies have partnered to further their individual efforts of wildfire mitigation and forest conservation. The agencies, led by SRP, presented a tour group from the Society of Environmental Journalists with an array of visual examples of their processes in the forests surrounding Payson on April 24.
The agencies have partnered with the goal of fostering growth and rehabilitation in northern Arizona's forests and reducing the chances of major wildfires. The interagency collaboration is called the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, established in 2010, which aims to restore and manage forest areas at high risk. These areas include the Kaibab, Apache-Sitgreaves, Coconino and Tonto forests.
Elvy Barton, SRP's senior manager for water and forest sustainability, led the tour. She explained the intricate relationship between the agencies, but also emphasized the delicacy of the relationship between humans and the forests in northern Arizona.
The function and existence of prescribed burns, or human-initiated controlled fires, demonstrate how intentional human collaboration can help intentional forest growth.
'Relationships (are) what gets the stuff done,' Barton said.
The collaboration between SRP and the other governmental agencies allows for a multiplicative effect on the power and impact of the individual work of each agency, according to Barton.
Thomas Torres, state forester at the Department of Forestry and Fire Management, said the Good Neighbor Authority was established nationally and implemented in Arizona to protect and restore the Tonto and Kaibab national forests in the northern region of the state.
'(The authority) has allowed Arizona to become the producer of nearly a quarter of the U.S. timber production,' Torres said.
Torres said without these partnerships to preserve and rehabilitate the forest lands in northern Arizona, metro Phoenix would feel detrimental effects.
'A lot of the logging here goes down to Phoenix,' he said. 'The goal is to build a healthier forest, for all of Arizona.'
Trevor Seck, Arizona forestry program supervisor for the National Forest Foundation, said the foundation is an official partner of the U.S. Forest Service and this specific partnership 'bring(s) people together to restore and maintain the forest(s).'
For the final stop of the tour, Barton led the group to a lookout point on the Mogollon Rim. She said it showed an example of the culmination of the interagency partnerships and conservation efforts made by SRP.
She left the tour group with a striking image: One section of the forest in the Mogollon Rim was densely populated with thin, column-like trees, and across a narrow road, a clearing with a few trees sprinkled throughout. The dense section seemed crowded and unruly. The other, intentionally cleared and conserved.
Barton explained that the dense section of the forest is an example of nature left to its own devices, and the clearing across the road is SRP's involvement in the process. The area was also the site of a lightning-caused fire in September 2024, which was managed to help with forest health.
'Nature was allowed to play its role (here),' Barton said.
Taking steps: In high-risk Pine Lake, Arizona is investing millions to keep wildfires at a distance
Bella Mazzilli is a reporter at State News Magazine at Arizona State University and is part of a student newsroom led by The Arizona Republic.
Coverage of the Society of Environmental Journalists conference is supported by Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism, the University of Arizona and the Arizona Media Association.
These stories are published open-source for other news outlets and organizations to share and republish, with credit and links to azcentral.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Forest restoration projects work when everyone cooperates, experts say
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