Native Plant Salvaging and Reuse in Southwestern Deserts - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 407

Planting depth is important for any plant. With a salvaged tree, maintaining the original
soil level appears even more critical because an older, stressed tree is much more suscep-
tible to fungus and bacterial infections caused by continuous moisture against the trunk.
23.4 Impacts
The net result of effective salvaging practices and related regulatory ordinances is that the
typical planned community can potentially increase the density of native plant species
on site upon development. Furthermore, salvaging native plants ultimately adds value
to any given project due to lower clearing expenses and costs to replace trees of similar
size. Beyond the tangible cost savings, the availability of salvaged native trees enables
landscape architects and others to relatively quickly create a mature desert context in
designs. Massed plantings of mature, native species can give our parks, civic centers,
office complex atriums, and other public gathering places just such a feeling. Deciduous
desert trees strategically planted provide significant energy savings by providing shade
in the summer and letting sunlight through in the winter. On a larger scale, the use of
our native desert trees has begun to create a canopy of shade that helps to mitigate the
urban heat island effect and establish valued microsites for understory plantings and
inhabitants.
The recent drought years have focused much attention on water conservation. While
salvaged native plants do require water to supplement rainfall, there is potential for
significant water savings compared to a nondesert landscape with exotic plants and lawns.
There are a few keys to realizing the full potential savings:
• A drip system operated by a controller with enough programming lexibility to
allow appropriate adjustments for the time of year and weather changes.
• A water harvesting system which could be as simple as land contouring to direct
rainfall, including roof runoff, to the root zones.
Landscapes featuring mature native trees also impact the local ecosystems and habitats
for animals, birds, and insects. It is generally accepted that providing more mature, native
trees rather than small, transplanted plants will support a greater amount and number of
native wildlife (see Chapter 22). Furthermore the network of thorny branches and spines
associated with many desert species provide effective cover for escape and possible
nesting sites.
23.5 Future Outlook
Native plant salvage has enabled us to change the face of development in the desert
Southwest in the last 20 years. However, there is still great potential for advance-
ment in this field. Improving survival rates, particularly in the winter months will
make even more large native plants available. To do this we must devote significant
resources to research and development with a focus on science. An attitudinal shift is