When Don Pike takes his daily walk, he switches his brown walking shoes, grabs his walking stick and bucket and goes outside. Ten feet later, he carefully slides past barbed wire and enters the Tonto National Forest. In contrast to other parts of the Tonto, where the soil between native plants and trees is covered with dry grasses, the earth is pale, crispy and bare, as it is intended.
That’s because Mr. Pike weeds have drawn.
“You will find none of them here in this area because I have removed them,” said Mr. Pike, 84, a pensioner from Maine who installed floor-to-ceiling windows in his living room to see his beloved desert better.
Mr. Pike is at war with buffalo grass and fountainras, two invasive species that are Distribution in the Sonoran desert, stifle native plants, increase the risk and intensity of forest fires and threaten a lively ecosystem.
He began to hunt the thick grasses, which were introduced by landscapes in the area, Almost 15 years ago. Since then he estimates that he and his team of volunteers have erased 550 of the approximately 14,000 hectares that they supervise. In 2024, that earned him the title of Arizona Weed manager of the year.
Work of volunteers such as Mr Pike has always been an important supplement for the management of federal countries, according to government workers who say that their programs have been under -financed for years. But because the Trump government and the so-called Ministry of Government started efficiency with mass dismissals from federal employees, volunteers such as Mr. Pike more vitaal than ever.
“It becomes important for the federal agencies, in particular the forest service, to find ways to involve people,” said Pike in March in his rear porch. “There are many people who want to get involved. Especially pensioners who have many skills.”