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Safeguarding nature

Fountain Hills parks staff controls underground rodent population in a unique way

Preserving prickly paradise

It’s Thursday morning and Town Parks Operations Lead Joe Beauvais is in his natural habitat: outside with a pick in hand, digging up what once was a thriving Silver Dollar Prickly Pear Cactus in Fountain Park.

This particular cactus has withered from the sweltering summer heat that set records across the Southwest. It also suffered from burrowing pack rats.

“The rats get in there and chew and rot out the roots,” Beauvais said.

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