Trees With Just a Trickle

The Eldarica pine is native to Afghanistan. This specimen is shown with Amargosa Pine Growers founder Stephen Pingree.

With water rules tightening, a Southern Nevada business has found a way to flourish while supplying the area a drought-hardy spot of green.

Amargosa Pine Growers is located about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas in Amargosa Valley. The company, one of Nevada's only tree farms, sells the low-maintenance Eldarica pine as an alternative to the xeriscaping that has taken hold as irrigation regulations have multiplied.

"We are competing against the landscaping style of the last couple of years since the drought," Stephen Pingree of Amargosa Pine Growers told the Las Vegas Business Press. "Although you see rocks and mesquite trees everywhere, there is an alternative. We offer shade-giving, environmentally-beneficial, security- and privacy-providing trees in contrast to the desert landscaping that's so popular nowadays. We're going to put some green back, so to speak."

At a price range of $150 to $375 per tree, Amargosa will be grossing between $1.5 million and $3.75 million a year when the company achieves its target sales of 10,000 trees annually, projected to be 2007-2008.

With about 60 new large scale development projects approved for this year, according to Pingree, Amargosa is bypassing the retail market and exclusively targeting developers for use of the tree in perimeter architecture, landscaping and median strips.

"We control everything 100 percent," Pingree notes. "Other growers have to use municipal water, energy and so on. We've got our costs under control." Moreover, the pine trees are grown nearby, providing the trees a gentle transition into the Las Vegas environment.

"The conditions in Amargosa Valley is the same as in Las Vegas," Pingree says. "The ph (acidity/alkaline measure) of the soil is the same. The elevation is about the same. The tree doesn't suffer shock like a tree from Texas would."

The greatest advantage is the product itself. Originating in Afghanistan, the Eldarica pine is perfectly suited for the severe climate and tough environment of Southern Nevada and the desert Southwest. The tree requires little water, about a gallon a day, to thrive optimally, although it can survive with nothing but the local Southern Nevada precipitation. "The Eldarica fits right into the generic definition of drought-resistant vegetation," Pingree says. "Plus, it's green, hardy, has a pleasant fragrance and offers cool shade."