Landowners, environmental consultants, a local saguaro farm, and Pattern Energy are collaborating to preserve Arizona’s iconic desert landscape.
Pattern Energy’s SunZia Wind and Transmission project will create the largest clean energy infrastructure project in United States history. Construction of SunZia started in 2023 in New Mexico and Arizona.
Minimizing the environmental impact on a project of this scale has involved extensive efforts. One example is the work being done to preserve local saguaro cactuses that will otherwise impacted by construction. In coordination with environmental experts, Pattern is relocating thousands of saguaros rather than simply cutting them down.
The large, tree-like saguaro cactus, found exclusively in the Sonoran Desert, is closely tied with Arizona’s identity and is an important component of the desert’s ecosystem. Although it’s not on the threatened or endangered species list, “Arizona has strict regulations about the harvesting, collection, or destruction of this species.”
That’s why this collaboration is important.
“We’ve relocated over 15,000 saguaros and agave throughout the project’s footprint. I think what’s really special about SunZia is the sheer magnitude of the effort going into a project like this,” explains Justin Montefalcon, a biologist at Canacre, an environmental consulting firm working on the project.
Pattern and Canacre have also been working with landowners who are involved in the project.
“This has been a real blessing,” says local landowner Russ Buhrow. “Our association with Pattern has been financially beneficial to small businesses and the community. I’ve had a good experience working with SunZia. They’ve been very honorable.”
Pattern is grateful to the landowners and other partners who have been instrumental in making the saguaro relocation project successful. Together we are demonstrating how environmental stewardship and renewable energy go hand-in-hand.