Revegetation Effort Underway

On May 6th, Friends of the Scenic Drive volunteers re-vegetated areas along the Scenic Drive. The project involved  planting smaller plants including cholla and barrel cactuses. Larger trees will be transplanted at a later date. Tony Nelssen, a Friends volunteer and founder of the Great Sonoran, played a key role in having the trees donated for use along the Scenic Drive. This picture of Tony was taken by Michelle Conway for the Scottsdale Tribune.

The story below appeared in the May 6th edition of the  Scottsdale Tribune.  It was written by Joe Kullman a member of the Tribune staff. 

Groups salvage native plants

Developers give funds to transplant cactuses, shrubs pulled from site. 

Think of it as a transplant operation being performed to keep the Sonoran Desert'ts heart beating in north Scottsdale. With land developers paying for the surgery.

The companies building the Summit at Scottsdale shopping center [Read More] are handing over $25,000 to local environmental groups to help salvage native flora from the 47-acre site near Scottsdale Road and Ashler Hills Drive. 

As many as 50 trees and large saguaro cactuses and several hundred smaller plants from the site are soon to adorn the area's Scenic Drive, and possibly some trails in the city's mountain preserve as well.

The smaller shrubs and cactuses "are plants that usually get dumped by developers," said Tony Nelssen of the Great Sonoran preservation group. [Read More] "We'll move them to locations where they won't have to be dug up again in the future."

Kohl Development Co. and Donahue Shriber company met for months with north Scottsdale residents to ensure its retail plaza design would pass muster with the neibhors. The Coalition of Pinnacle Peak and other neighborhood associations have often opposed commercial development amid the area's scenic environs. 

The developer agreed to a number of architectural design alterations to appease the community. Nelssen suggested they might gain even more favor by taking pains to save as much desert vegetation as possible.

The Friends of the Scenic Drive, a group that has maintained the plant exhibits along a six-mile stretch of northern Scottsdale Road, was happy to be the beneficiary of the effort.