Contributions from Salt River Project customers have helped clear more than 1,600 acres of unhealthy forest containing watersheds that serve the Valley.

Almost $800,000 has been raised over the last three years for the SRP Healthy Forest Initiative, a customer-funded program that supports strategic forest thinning projects.

The initiative helps reduce the risk and “devastating impacts of catastrophic wildfire and protect(s) the health of the watersheds that provide water to the Valley,” SRP officials said in a release.

The program is part of SRP’s 2035 Sustainability Goals to protect the health of the watersheds through forest restoration treatments.

The work is done through partnerships, education and support for industry to thin 50,000 acres per year or 500,000 acres of unhealthy overgrown forested lands by 2035, according to SRP. 

"We are so appreciative of our customers who see the value in forest health and want to be a part of the solution to help prevent devastating wildfires," said Elvy Barton, SRP manager of water and forest sustainability. 

Most the Valley’s water supply originates as rain and snow from 8.3 million acres of watershed lands spread across northern and eastern Arizona.

Wildfires sear the forest floor and soil, keeping snowmelt and rain from being absorbed into the ground and can fill rivers and streams with ash and debris, causing water quality and supply issues, Barton said.

HFI funding supported the Baker and Roosevelt projects, which restored a portion of the ponderosa pine forest in northern Arizona.

The small-diameter trees being removed are shipped to a Phoenix pallet company and to Novo BioPower, Arizona’s only biomass renewable energy facility located in Snowflake.

Residential customers who would like to sign up to help the initiative can visit: srp.net/healthyforest.