Recent monsoon winds brought down two dead palo verde trees at AeroZona. Rather than treating the fallen trees as waste to haul away, we saw an opportunity to put that material to work—and to start preparing the land for the rain we hope is still to come.
So our first real land project is underway: turning the fallen palo verde into small check dams in the washes that cross the property.
We’re cutting the trees into manageable sections and using the woody material to create small, permeable barriers across areas where stormwater naturally flows. The goal isn’t to stop the water. It’s to slow it down, spread it out, and give it more time to soak into the landscape.
That can also help capture sediment and organic material that would otherwise continue washing downstream. It’s a simple principle of dryland water harvesting: work with the way water already moves across the land rather than trying to fight it. University of Arizona guidance notes that check dams can slow runoff and increase the opportunity for infiltration.
And the timing feels especially appropriate. We’re still in monsoon season, and NOAA is currently forecasting a very strong El Niño developing through late 2026 and persisting into the winter—another reason for us to think now about how the property handles future rainfall, while recognizing that El Niño never guarantees a wet winter in any particular location.
There is something fitting about this being AeroZona’s first project.
Two dead trees came down in a storm. Instead of leaving the property, their wood will stay here—helping slow the next storm, hold a little more water on the land, reduce erosion, and begin rebuilding the washes around them.
Use what we have. Work with the desert. Keep the water where it falls.
That feels like a pretty good place to start.
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