Tonto National Forest

The Shoofly Village Ruins was built centuries ago, then restored by archeologists in the ‘90s.

The Friends of Tonto National Forest work on a variety of projects, from invasive species to spring restoration.

The group hopes to upgrade an archeological site near Payson.

Shoofly Village Ruins was built centuries ago, then restored by archeologists in the '90s. The restoration included a log barrier to keep people from driving through the ruins.

Scott Wood is with Friends of the Tonto. He says his group would like to replace the old barrier with something more substantial, and will have an open house Saturday to help raise funds.

"So Shoofly Ruin represents a group of people native to the Payson area. They’re related to the Hohokam, prehistoric folks that lived down here in the Phoenix area. And they’re part of this colonization effort that came up out of the Valley into parts of central Arizona," Wood said.

The open house will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at the village, located on Houston Mesa Road near Payson.