Advocating for parts of our state still recovering from the Wallow Fire 15 years later.
So many Arizonans remember the devastation that was caused back in 2011, with more than half a million acres burning along the Arizona-New Mexico border in the White Mountains. The Wallow Fire remains the largest wildfire in modern Arizona history.
Since last year, the nonprofit Trout Unlimited has been spearheading a three-phase restoration project in the Thompson-Burro Meadow in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in the White Mountains, an area that continues to recover from the Wallow Fire.
In Phase One of the project, Trout Unlimited and its crews created what are known as "stream structures," like log jams, to help slow water down, raise the water table, and reconnect it to the floodplain. It's critical work that's helping to "re-wet the sponge" and strengthen water resources in areas of eastern Arizona, the Valley, and beyond.
Trout Unlimited has also found a way to make good use of wood resources that are often discarded or not seen as valuable.
"One of the problems that we have in our national forest is a lot of small trees that have small economic value," says Nathan Rees, Arizona State Director for Trout Unlimited. "What we are doing is taking them and putting them in our restoration work. We are utilizing timber that would either be burnt or hauled away to the dump and we are re-purposing that."
In Phase II, which is currently underway, Trout Unlimited is building an elk exclosure to keep out larger grazers, allowing the land to rehabilitate. Small animals are still able to pass through.
In the third and final phase, 75,000 new plants will be added, which are currently being grown at Northern Arizona University. That process will begin in June 2027.
Rees says that without the work of Trout Unlimited, it could take areas impacted by the Wallow Fire hundreds of years to correct on their own.
To learn more about the Thompson Burro Meadow project, other Colorado River Restoration projects, or to donate, click here.
