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Habitat Restoration Home | Santa Cruz River Habitat Project | IBA Program | | Public lands | Conservation home |
Tucson Audubon Society
Restoration Staff Gives Expert Workshop
by Kendall
Kroesen and Ann
Phillips
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Back in September we reported that Tucson Audubon’s Santa Cruz River Habitat Project had received a second phase of funding from the Arizona Water Protection Fund to expand restoration activities to another 25 acres of land at the North Simpson Site. This Phase 2 grant has allowed us to install new irrigation lines, dig new rainwater harvesting basins, and put in over 2,200 new plants! More plants are waiting to go in the ground. Seed has been spread as well, with some areas showing good germination of species like Indian wheat (plantain) and beautiful yellow-flowered bladderpods.
Part of the money is for outreach and we’ve been busy leading people through the site, teaching both children and adults about habitat restoration. So far we have hosted a class of fourth graders from La Paloma Academy; an environmental anthropology class from Pima College; and a group of Korean science teachers participating in a University of Arizona program. These are in addition to volunteer days, birding tours, and several offsite slide shows.
The last phase 1 outreach activity was held March 11 when Tucson Audubon partnered with the Pima Association of Governments (PAG) to conduct a habitat restoration workshop for professionals who do land-use-planning or habitat restoration. Seventy-five [number to be verified on March 11] participants from local governments, non-profit organizations and consulting firms came to the North Simpson Site for the afternoon to see first-hand the results of the habitat restoration work that started in 2001. Tucson Audubon has given restoration workshops before, but this was the first one designed specifically for people with a professional interest in habitat restoration.
The afternoon workshop was part of an all-day event cosponsored by PAG and Tucson Audubon. The day started at the PAG office in downtown Tucson, where participants heard presentations about area conservation and restoration plans by staff and consultants of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Town of Marana, the City of Tucson, and the Pima County Flood Control District. At lunch, Ann Phillips, Tucson Audubon’s Habitat Restoration Project Manager, presented a slide show providing participants with an overview of the restoration approach used at the North Simpson Site. In the afternoon everyone headed out to the site, northwest of Marana, for some on-the-ground restoration experiences.
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At the project site participants rotated through presentations, demonstrations and hands-on activities focusing on rainwater harvesting, erosion control, growing and planting native species, controlling nonnative species, planting onsite cuttings of willows and cottonwoods, and monitoring techniques used to gauge restoration results. At the end of the field trip, participants left with a deeper understanding of how one habitat restoration project was designed, implemented, and monitored.
Even as work continues at the North Simpson Site, restoration staffers are gearing up for the beginning of work at the Esperanza Ranch conservation easement. This 300-acre project site, located along the Santa Cruz River between Tubac and Amado, is funded by another grant from the Arizona Water Protection Fund. It turns out that "Esperanza Ranch" is a relatively recent moniker for this land. We were excited to learn from a historian that an earlier name for this general area was "Reventón de los Patos," which refers to the noise that a flock of ducks makes as it lifts off of a body of water. Esperanza is a good name too—it means "hope." We have high hopes of bringing ducks and other birds back to this stretch of river.
The Esperanza Ranch project is currently in the planning stage, with restoration work slated to begin in the fall. If you would like to be involved as a volunteer, please contact Ann Phillips to be placed on the volunteer email list for this project (206-9900, or aphillips1@qwest.net). Also, look for word of volunteer opportunities in future issues of the Vermilion Flycatcher. Bird surveys have already started, under the direction of Important Bird Area Program Conservation Biologist Scott Wilbor. Contact him if you would like to help with this or other Important Bird Area surveys, at 628-1730.
Note: There will be a birding field trip along the Santa Cruz River at the North Simpson Site on April 16 (see field trip listings starting on page 6). In the next issue of the Flycatcher, look for coverage of recent Burrowing Owl releases at the project site.
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This page was updated on 02/22/06