The Landscape Committee manages plants along the Foothills Clusters HOA roadways within the Limited Common Area, including road easements, within the cul-de-sacs, and the monuments, lighting and vegetation at the community entrances. The committee focuses on managing for native desert plants, including the monitoring and removal of non-native invasive plants.
The committee conducts inspections of the limited common area landscaping (i.e., FCHOA roadways and the small islands of land within the turn-arounds at the end of each cul-de-sac) and makes recommendations to the Board of Directors. The annual Green Waste Collection is typically scheduled in late fall and is designed to support removal of non-native plants, which can reduce wildfire risk, and pruning of native plants, if and where needed.
Committee members (2025) are: Ron Steffens (Chair), Jerry Milewski, and Dan Weisz.
For recent activities, please see our FCHOA Landscape Committee Report for 2024.
Living in the Desert
The Landscape Committee recommends these key steps for living in our desert landscapes:
- You do not have permission to remove any native plants in the Limited Common Area and Master Association Common Area.
- Pruning of native desert vegetation is limited by FCHOA guidelines and regulations/guidelines by Pima County and the State of Arizona. For a comprehensive resource, see the Native Plant Management pages from the Arizona Native Plant Society.
- If you identify non-native plants on your property, remove and report, according to accepted guidelines. Resources include:
- Buffelgrass Removal Update
- Buffelgrass: Don’t Feed the Fire!
- “Save our Saguaros” – February 16, 2019. A Neighborhood Nonnative Grass-Pull Event. Dan Weisz.
- Invasive Desert Plants – Fountain Grass (Video, AZPM Arizona Public Media.)
- Stinknet.org (with a Pima County focus) and Report Stinknet survey
4. If pack rats occur on your property, seek professional assistance for trapping or trap them yourself. Do not use poison, as pack rats typically aren’t killed by the poison but their predators are killed — which removes them from their key role in naturally controlling pack rats.
