Weed Manager of the Year: One Man’s Quest to Save the Sonoran Desert

When Don Pike gives his daily walk, hey ties his brown mountain boots, grabs his cane and his cube hat and goes outside. Feet later, the barbed wire carefully slides, enters the national fool forest. Unlike other parts of the fool, where the ground between plants and native trees is covered with dry pastures, the earth is pale, crunchy and bars, as they are meean.

That is because Mr. Pike has weeds.

“You won any of them in this area here because I have eliminated them,” said Pike, 84, a Maine retiree who installed floor by roof in his living room to see his beloved desert better.

Mr. Pike is at war with buffalo grass and font grass, two invasive species that are Highlighting in the Sonora desert, drowning native plants, increasing the risk and intensity of forest fires and threatening a vibrant ecosystem.

The thick pastures were hunting, which were introduced into the area by landscapes, Almost 15 years ago. Since then, he estimates that he and his volunteer team have eliminated 550 of the approximately 14,000 acres they supervise. In 2024, that earned him the title of the weed manager of the Year of Arizona.

The work of volunteers such as Mr. Pike has always brought an important supplement for federal land management, according to government workers who say that their programs have a leg without financing for years. But since the Trump administration and the so -called Government’s efficiency department beg massive fierce dismissals, volunteers such as Mr. Pike have become more vital than ever.

“It will be important for federal agencies, the particular forest service, finding ways to involve people,” Pike said on his rear porch in March. “There are many people who have to get involved. Particularly retired who have many skills.”