Preservation: Defenders of the Desert

By HOLLY IVY DE VORE

REAL ESTATE WRITER

For eons, Mother Nature nurtured the yuccas, cactuses and Joshua trees in the desert of Nevada. The blazing sun determined their fate, allowing the most drought-tolerant to survive and causing the weakest to perish.

This desert landscape sprawled across the valley until inhabitants flocked to the small town called Las Vegas. They kept coming and coming, spreading the town's boundaries, with developers leveling Mother Nature's work to build the homes where we live today.

However, glimpses of native plants can be seen amid the imported palm trees and Bermuda grass within the very neighborhoods that stand on top of the once vacant land. Some builders have included the desert revegetation philosophy in their development plans, turning to contractors who specialize in reusing indigenous materials for the landscaping of open space and golf courses.

"I think it's essential that in any kind of environment, particularly in a desert environment, to implement a revegetation program. The desert is fragile and doesn't heal itself quickly. When it's disturbed, it takes centuries to heal sometimes. It needs our help to heal," Gayle Marrs-Smith, a botanist with the Las Vegas Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, said.

"We have our own restoration program here in the BLM where we restore the disturbed lands in the desert. We can also provide a list of companies who do this type of work for those developing on BLM land."

One such company is Native Resources. Since incorporating drought-tolerant ground cover within the TPC at The Canyons golf course in Summerlin in 1996, the Phoenix-based company has undertaken revegetation projects in several other local communities, including Anthem, MacDonald Highlands, Seven Hills and, more recently, the Wetlands Park in the southeastern valley and Jack Nicklaus' Bear's Best golf course in Summerlin's new The Ridges village.

"What's happening in the city is a lot of development on lands that used to be desert. Our issue is restoring the Mojave Desert. We've got developers who are making changes to the natural environment which has taken thousands of years for Mother Nature to create. We go in there and try to put it back to how it was through desert revegetation," Doug Sheehan, vice president of Native Resources, said.

"It's best to begin our work during the early stages of a project before grading even begins. The alternative that we sometimes find ourselves in is for the builder to first grade the property and we follow the bulldozer. But we can reuse more materials if we stay ahead of the bulldozer," he said.

"We can handle everything from the vegetation to the boulders to the seeding. It's all part of reviving the open spaces and the natural habitat while reusing the original plants ... Typically, we don't install irrigation, so the finished product is self-sustaining."

Multifaceted process

Revegetating a recently bulldozed site requires a commitment from developers.

"An `instant curb appeal' is often desired to restore the appearance right away. But developers have to understand that revegetation is a long-term process. It takes time for the plants to grow and for nature to restore itself," Sheehan said.

"In revegetation, there are different stages in the process. In some situations, we incorporate only a few of the phases in a project while in other cases we follow all of the steps."

The program offered by Native Resources may include the following components:

--Identifying "on-site" harvest areas, where plants, boulders and natural cobblestone are removed and the parcel is later developed.

--Establishing a temporary nursery on-site, where the harvested materials are kept until they are transplanted. In some projects, this facet is bypassed and the materials are directly replanted at another site within the project.

--Reshaping the surface area. "We then reshape the natural creases, gullies and wrinkles in the land. We have to re-create the lay of the land so that it mimics the adjacent desert," Sheehan said.

--Transplanting native plants, boulders and ground cover. The placement is often staggered, in an attempt to re-create the natural setting.

--Seeding and adding earth-tone colorants to the surface soil and boulders through Permeon spray.

"The process can be difficult on plants. After they're transported, they tend to defoliate, go dormant for about 60 to 90 days, and then refoliate. About 75 to 80 percent of what we salvage we can actually replant," Sheehan said, adding that about 400 to 1,200 plants per acre may be removed, depending on the site.

"All indigenous vegetation requires extensive attention to detail, in both the harvesting and replanting process. Most revegetation programs include the creosote, white bursage, Mormon tea, prickly pear, beaver tail, yucca, cholla and other cacti," he said.

"Most of the vegetation that implements color are revegetated through our dual-native-seeding application. The seed mix includes globe mallow, sand verbena, desert gold poppy, desert sunflower and brown-eyed primrose, to name a few."

Sheehan said the creosote bush is especially difficult to replant.

"It is the most difficult to salvage because it has a dual-root system. Each stem acts differently. It's drought tolerant, and we reuse this plant as much as possible even though it has a high mortality rate. Economically, it makes sense to reuse them because they cost about $8 for a one-gallon creosote from a nursery, compared to the creosotes that we replant, which average 12 to 15 gallons in size," he said.

According to Sheehan, the cost for his company's full corporate revegetation program varies, depending on the project, and ranges from about 75 cents to $1 per square foot. For individual components of the program, the price starts from about 10 cents per square foot.

Builders design with revegetation in mind

Builders have used revegetation within their developments for various reasons.

Developer Rich MacDonald implemented it at DragonRidge Golf and Country Club at MacDonald Highlands in Henderson.

"We've used native materials in the past, and we will continue to do it in the future. I think that from an environmental standpoint that it's better to reuse plant materials, and it complements our surrounding terrain, which is unique with the proximity to the mountains and desert. It's a very attractive site, and we certainly would like to maintain that environment," MacDonald said.

Native plants have also played a role in the development of Del Webb Corp.'s Anthem community in Henderson, according to Mike Jesberger, associate general manager for the community.

"We made a decision during the planning stages that we wanted visually for the Anthem community to mimic the natural surroundings of the hillsides," Jesberger said.

"We had the existing plants removed prior to the grading of the roads and subdivisions, and the plants have been placed in a nursery until they are replanted throughout the community ... We basically have integrated the desert revegetation to create what we call an oasis with grass and trees. The combination has created a very different landscaping palette that is unique in the Las Vegas Valley."

At Silver Canyon Partnership's Seven Hills community in Henderson, maintaining the native setting was a priority, according to project manager Mike Etter.

"The final product utilizes the desert rocks and plants, and we try to make it reflect the original landscape and nature as much as possible ... The area has many slopes where we have been able to preserve the look of the desert and to maintain the natural aesthetic feel."

Summerlin will continue to feature native plants, according to Gerry Robbins, director of detail planning for The Howard Hughes Corp.

"There are certainly some areas in Summerlin where we wanted the landscaping to be natural and water efficient. That's why we decided to use revegetation in areas throughout the community," Robbins said.

"We ... have plans to incorporate it in The Ridges village. We want to use natural landscaping along the edges of the golf course, in some residential areas, and in some areas where we want to keep the areas as desert as possible."

In addition to influencing a community's design, MacDonald said revegetation also impacts the pocketbook.

"It might be more expensive to put in, but it's about a third of the cost in the long run to maintain," he said.

Jesberger agreed.

"From a builder's standpoint, the revegetation process has a less cost, and certainly it costs less to maintain. We use less irrigation and actually use no water in many areas," he said.

Future commitment

In addition to reduced maintenance costs, the future supply of native plants may fuel revegetation programs.

"In the future, I see in the local market an increased use of salvaged materials by more medium and smaller builders," Sheehan said.

"Development has increased in the Mojave Desert, which affects the supply of vegetation that can be salvaged. You have to go out and salvage the plants because their sizes can't easily be replaced."

The water efficiency of native plants is also a selling point, according to Marrs-Smith.

"There will be more use of native vegetation in this area just as a water-saving mechanism and because people are developing a greater interest in their surroundings and the native vegetation as well."

Marrs-Smith would also like to see local municipalities adopt a reuse policy.

"The BLM requires developers of projects on public land to salvage the cactuses and the yuccas. They have to do a survey of the plants and the cactuses that have to be salvaged. So, if somebody wants to build a public library or a school on BLM land, they have to go through this process," she said.

"I think it would be helpful for the cities and county to have a similar policy ... If they would require the developers to salvage the materials and use it in desert landscaping or to donate it to schools, that would not only help save water, but it would also help the native plants survive."

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