Native Plant Salvaging and Reuse in Southwestern Deserts - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 405

FIGURE 23.4
Salvage crew marking location of saguaros using GPS.
naturally occurring one. Nevada has a similar regulation, requiring permits and transport
tags for native cacti and yuccas. Harvests on private land for commercial purposes require
a native flora harvest registration permit, if removing six or more individuals.
Local ordinances have been implemented in many Southwest cities. A key requirement
is the submittal of an inventory of the protected native plants on site identifying each plant
with a tag number and sometimes a GPS point (Figure 23.4). The inventory consists of a
listing of the plants. City personnel review the inventories with particular interest in trees
determined to be unsalvageable. An explanation must accompany any such determination;
the most common are poor health of the tree and poor soil conditions.
An ordinance enacted by the City of Phoenix requires a two-step approval process. The
first is a Landscape Inventory Plan which includes the basic site inventory. The second is a
Landscape Conservation Salvage Plan which (involves) grading and drainage issues and
details of the salvage effort.
Pima County also requires a site inventory but takes a different approach to mitigation.
Based on assessments of viability (health) and transplantability there is a formula which
determines a number of smaller plants that must be added to the landscape to replace any
plants for which salvage is not attempted or is unsuccessful.
To summarize, tremendous improvements in regulatory actions have been enacted.
However, it seems we will always be walking a thin line between the prevention of abuses
and encouraging desired uses of certain native plants.
23.3.2 Economic Challenges
From a developer's perspective, getting a project approved and permitted through the
local jurisdiction is a long and arduous process even without any requirements related to
native plants. In the early days of salvaging, owners and builders were not too enthralled
with another layer of regulation. However, as it became evident that tree salvage was an
economically viable process, attitudes became more positive. Salvaging plants on-site
saves about 50% compared to purchasing a similar one at a nursery. And as more cities
and counties pass ordinances, it is becoming more and more difficult to find replacements.