ARIZONA—Healing the forest is a little like healing the body and mind of a wounded warrior. When the ravages of war take its toll on a soldier it often takes caring people to help with the healing, just as it takes people to heal a forest that’s been ravaged by a wildfire or choked by invasive plants.

Since 2017, the nonprofit Natural Restorations has been focused on helping military veterans heal from a variety of war-related injuries while employing them to restore areas of the Tonto National Forest and other southwestern national forests.

Husband and wife team Justin and Nicole Corey co-founded the organization after seeing trash and graffiti at their favorite outdoor areas on the forest. Unfortunately, illegal dumping and graffiti are not unusual on urban forests, but fortunately for the Tonto, the Coreys were inspired to take action!

At the same time the couple was trying to figure out how to get started, Justin’s best friend Derek returned from the Middle East after several tours with the United States Army. The two went on a camping trip in the desert to talk about their futures and Derek’s struggles with traumatic brain injury and PTSD. It was on this trip, after picking up trash, that Derek realized cleaning up the great outdoors kept him from thinking about the war.

Inspired by Derek, the Coreys launched what they call the Dedicated Restoration Team, which provides opportunities for military veterans to spend time in nature with other service members, making immediate, visible impacts on Arizona’s outdoor recreation and wilderness areas. Tragically, Derek lost his life a year to the day before they signed an agreement with the Arizona Trail Association to officially launch Natural Restorations.

“Every project we complete is in Derek’s honor and we will never forget his sacrifices for our country,” said Nicole. “It took two years of hard work to launch our team, providing over 12,675 hours of contract work in the great outdoors to military veterans across 103 projects, and we keep adding more.”

“We’ve grown quite a bit since we started.” said Nicole. “To date, we have removed more than 1.47 million pounds (673.92 tons) of trash, removed and recycled 1,508 tires, removed 41,669 square feet of graffiti from rocks and boulders, planted over 25,600 trees, cacti and other native desert plants, and we’re just getting started.”

Today, the organization is recognized as an official partner of the Forest Service Southwestern Region. To learn more, visit www.naturalrestorations.org or to join their team, email contact@naturalrestorations.org.