Blake Wellard

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Salt Lake City plants cacti to stop erosion on fire-scorched foothills

As of October 2026: Leading the foothills replanting effort

The Bonneville Fire tore 572 acres off the foothills above Red Butte Garden on June 20. Salt Lake City crews and volunteers are replanting the scar with Bigroot Prickly Pear cactus to stop the bare slopes from washing away.

Updated Oct 11

Notable Quotes

"Prickly pear has a very shallow root system, so it can spread out wide in these dry and rocky soils and really help stabilize these slopes."

from Salt Lake City plants cacti to stop erosion on fire-scorched foothills · Updated Oct 11

"There's a very large herd of elk that uses this space, so any extra assistance we can give to rehabilitate this land for the benefit of wildlife is a big goal of ours."

from Salt Lake City plants cacti to stop erosion on fire-scorched foothills · Updated Oct 11

"The cactus can serve as protection not only for the plant itself, but an animal that might choose to live underneath it. The fruits and the flowers that they make are really large and very attractive to many different species of pollinators."

from Salt Lake City plants cacti to stop erosion on fire-scorched foothills · Updated Oct 11