Restoration and contract growing  

Learn about the Research Greenhouse’s history and efforts in restoration and contract growing.

The Trees for the Rim project

In June 2002, the Rodeo-Chediski wildfire burned over 478,000 acres in Arizona’s White Mountains. Trees for the Rim (TFTR), a non-profit organization, contacted the Northern Arizona University Research Greenhouse to see if we could provide ponderosa pine seedlings for restoration on private and municipal land burned by the fire.

By the end of the 2008 season, the Research Greenhouse delivered more than 250,000 native and firewise trees, shrubs, and grasses to the TFTR project.

The Trees for Mount Lemmon project

The TFTR project led to another non-profit restoration project on Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson, Arizona, called Trees for Mount Lemmon (TFML). TFML was established to help restore private land burned in the Aspen Fire of 2003. To date, the Research Greenhouse has delivered 7,000 plants grown from local, site-specific seeds, and vegetative material.

The Cibola and PVER gardens

In 2005, the Cottonwood Ecology Group, under the direction of Dr. Tom Whitham, received funding to establish a research/restoration project on land along the lower Colorado River managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.

The Cibola and PVER gardens were established over a two-year period, starting in 2006. The Research Greenhouse produced more than 45,000 seedlings for these gardens, which contain a mix of Fremont and Narrowleaf Cottonwood, as well as Goodings and Coyote Willow to restore habitat for endangered birds.

The research results from these gardens will help researchers to better understand and define the field of biology and community genetics.

Contract growing services

The Research Greenhouse is available for contract growing for large scale restoration and research projects for public and non-profit organizations throughout Arizona and the Southwest. 

We have experience with many native species and a large knowledge base within the Northern Arizona University community to draw upon.  Contact us for more information.