Apple collaborates with the Salt River Project to help combat climate change and wildfires in Arizona through forest thinning

SRP

Forests around the CC Cragin Dam and Reservoir near Payson.

Apple has partnered with SRP to help the company with its sustainability projects in Arizona.

The Cupertino-based company will help SRP thin approximately 30,000 hectares of forest over the next decade, about 12 miles north of Payson, between the Verde and Salt River Watersheds.

Forest thinning, or removing trees from heavily forested areas, may sound counterintuitive for a climate and sustainability project, but there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface, says Elvy Barton.

Barton is SRP’s senior manager of water and forest sustainability, and she says forest thinning projects like the ones Apple helps support are hugely beneficial for the environment and wildlife:

“When we do forest thinning projects, we remove some small trees and shrubs,” she said. “And what that does is allows more water from snow and rain events to actually reach the forest floor, which helps the water seep into the ground.”

As water soaks into the soil, Barton says, the soil becomes a kind of sponge.

“If you have extra rain or snow and your sponge is already full, that means any extra water would lead to surface water runoff, meaning it would flow into streams and rivers and ultimately into lakes and reservoirs,” Barton said.

Allowing the ‘sponge’ to fill with water also means it replenishes some groundwater that would otherwise have been absorbed by trees or evaporated back into the atmosphere.

SRP

Forests around the CC Cragin Dam and Reservoir near Payson.

SRP’s partnership with Apple isn’t its first partnership with a major tech company, either. It has also partnered with Meta and Google in the past for similar sustainability initiatives.

Barton also said that SRP is also working with Arizona State University so they can “model how the landscape is changing with forest thinning” and understand the effects this will have on local wildlife and the forest in general.

The forest thinning project also takes into account that the watershed is critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl, an endangered species. Barton said thinning the forest will help prevent wildfires that could destroy their habitat and that of other wildlife in the forest.

Removing trees from a crowded environment also increases the distance between trees, which Barton says can reduce the risk of wildfires and slow their spread, in addition to producing a healthier forest ecosystem overall.

“If you have a healthier, more resilient forest, that also means that they can absorb more carbon over time and store that in the healthier, resilient trees that are less likely to succumb to disease, insect mortality or drought effects. “

The partnership between SRP and Apple also has benefits beyond the forest, Barton says.

She said Payson received about 3,000 acre-feet of water from the watershed where SRP is already thinning forests, and that the city has been a strong partner for SRP over the past decade.

“This is just another example of how collaboration with cities and others can really move these projects forward and truly protect not only the City of Payson’s water supplies, but the surrounding community and infrastructure.”

SRP

Forests around the CC Cragin Dam and Reservoir near Payson.

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