Salt River Project (SRP) announced today a partnership with bottler, Swire Coca-Cola, and The Coca-Cola Company to invest in forest health and support water resiliency for central Arizona. This investment to the SRP Resilient Water and Forest Initiative™ will aim to support the Initiative’s restoration of forests over the next two years, helping strengthen a critical water supply for Central Arizona communities, including the Town of Payson and the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Since its founding in 2019, the Initiative has brought together more than $5 million to help restore more than 40,000 acres, and today the Coca-Cola system is contributing additional funding of $202,500.

The Haigler Project centers around the strategic thinning of forests located in the areas that are at a high risk for severe wildfires. This investment includes forests in the Tonto National Forest that feed into Tonto Creek, which flows into Roosevelt Lake and Roosevelt Dam. Roosevelt is the largest of the SRP reservoirs that stores up to 1.6 million acre-feet of water.

“We are so proud to partner with Swire Coca-Cola and The Coca-Cola Company on the Haigler project to protect communities, wildlife habitat, and water,” said Elvy Barton, SRP Water and Forest Sustainability Senior Manager. “Protecting our forest and water supplies from catastrophic wildfire will require innovative partnerships, like the one with Swire Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola to help ensure long-term water resiliency.”

This partnership also highlights real-life applications of Arizona State University’s innovative water benefit model, which quantifies the water benefits of forest restoration projects and utilizes those benefits to engage private industry in funding restoration work like the Haigler Project.

“Water is vital to the communities we serve,” said Mike Bernier, Director of Sustainability at Swire Coca-Cola. “By partnering with SRP and ASU, we are deepening our commitment to social responsibility and water stewardship. We are proud to play a part in protecting and refreshing the communities we call home.”

SRP manages critical water supply for much of the Valley – most of which comes from 8.3 million acres of land in northern Arizona. Snowfall and rain provide the water that travels through the watershed into SRP reservoirs, which is then delivered to 2.5 million homes and businesses in the Phoenix metropolitan area via an extensive network of canals.

SRP is working with partners like Swire Coca-Cola and The Coca-Cola Company to provide funding that will allow state and federal agencies to strategically remove smaller trees. This will enable larger, healthier trees to thrive and reduce the potential for catastrophic wildfires. Strategic forest thinning helps reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires while protecting nearby communities, water infrastructure and water supplies.

Strategic thinning also helps store more carbon in healthy trees; creates a healthier ecosystem that is more resilient to the effects of climate change and drought; and protects and enhances wildlife habitats.

This partnership is made possible by an innovative collaboration that allows SRP to help fund work performed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management to accelerate the scale of strategic forest thinning across Arizona’s forests.

The project is also part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 10-year strategy aimed at addressing the wildfire crisis by treating critical firesheds with the help of partners. Firesheds are large, forested landscapes with a high likelihood that an ignition could expose communities and infrastructure to wildfire. Payson and nearby communities are within one of the top firesheds in the country.

SRP has committed to increasing forest restoration efforts through partnerships, education and supporting the forest products industry to thin 800,000 acres by 2035.