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Tucson Audubon Society
Santa Cruz River Habitat Project—
More Than Just Trees
by Kendall Kroesen,
(520) 206-9900
(Article first appeared in the March 2004 Vermilion Flycatcher newsletter. To receive the Vermilion Flycatcher, join the Friends of Tucson Audubon.)
When people hear about habitat restoration, the first thing they think of is trees. Tucson Audubon’s habitat restoration staff plants trees, of course: mesquites, palo verdes, elderberries, desert willows, and many others. But they do much more than that.
Habitat restoration at the Santa
Cruz River Habitat Project (northwest of Marana) involves careful
planning, site assessment, choice of a complete plant "pallet"
(shrubs, grasses, cacti, annuals, etc., in addition to trees), irrigation
systems, site management (fencing, etc.), invasive plant removal, and
measures of progress.
But even that is not enough for Habitat Restoration Projects Manager Ann Phillips.
Since the beginning of 2002, the restoration staff has given 18 habitat restoration lectures to Audubon chapters, professional societies, non-profit groups, and Boy Scouts. Do you know a group that would like to learn more about habitat restoration?
The staff has also worked with hundreds of school children, ranging from kindergarten and fourth graders at Gallego Elementary, to advanced-placement science students from Mountain View High School.
The staff teaches habitat restoration by showing off its work. There have been 19 tours of the Santa Cruz River Habitat Project for Tucson Audubon members and a variety of other groups. Hundreds of visitors have seen the restoration site on these tours. The next tour is February 28.
In addition to regular site tours, there have been six birding fieldtrips to the restoration site, involving over 60 participants. These trips are a great opportunity to see a birding site that is normally off limits, while also seeing how the habitat restoration is coming along. There will be another birding fieldtrip on Saturday, April 24.
Another way to see the project site is to come to a volunteer workday. There have been 20 volunteer days at the restoration site so far. Audubon members, students, and other community members have come out and directly experienced what it’s like to plant a tree or a shrub, dig a water-harvesting basin, install drip system pipes and emitters, control invasive plants, and other tasks.
The next volunteer day will be February 28, when volunteers learn how to do "pole planting." They will cut live branches from cottonwoods and willows and plant them in the moist soil near the river. Many of these poles will set root and grow into trees! They will eventually increase the tree canopy along the river and create even more foraging and nesting habitat for birds.
The efforts of volunteers have multiplied the restoration crew’s work many-fold. In the last fiscal year there were over 100 volunteers who visited the site, contributing over 300 hours of volunteer labor!
Given what the staff has learned about habitat restoration in the last two years, they are now ready to teach others. On January 31 they held a free riparian restoration workshop at the restoration site. Twenty-two people learned how to plant native shrubs, install irrigation, build water-harvesting basins, recognize and collect native seeds, and many other things.
And the restoration crew is taking their show on the road! There will be two more riparian restoration workshops designed for local residents of the West Branch of the Santa Cruz River (March 6) and Tumacácori (March 13). You must pre-register: contact Ann Phillips at aphillips1@qwest.net, or 206-9900.
So, they don’t just plant trees. Let them know what they can do for you!
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This page was updated on 07/13/06