Making it work for you:

Nature & Food Community Model

Tucson Audubon’s Habitat Restoration Program

Tucson Audubon takes birds seriously. That's why along with watching them, teaching about them, and conserving their habitat, we restore their habitat too.

Tucson Audubon's conservation foci are riparian areas and Sonoran Desert uplands. Much of the riparian habitat in southeast Arizona has been lost in the last 100 years. A large number of bird species that are on the Audubon Watchlist (of vulnerable species) are ones that depend on riparian areas.

Tucson Audubon habitat restoration projects have focused on degraded riparian habitat, or new riparian habitat that is developing along effluent-dominated waterways like the lower Santa Cruz River. We use standard habitat restoration techniques and native Sonoran Desert plant species, as well as integrating sustainability techniques like rainwater harvesting.

Funding for restoration work has come from the Arizona Water Protection Fund, in-lieu mitigation funds distributed by the Army Corps of Engineers, Arizona Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Devon Energy Corporation, the George A. Binney Conservation Foundation, and the Wallace Research Foundation.

All Tucson Audubon habitat restoration sites are posted no trespassing, and access is only possible during official Tucson Audubon events, or by special arrangement. If you would like to learn more about our habitat restoration projects and how you can volunteer, contact Kendall Kroesen, Restoration Program Manager, at kkroesen@tucsonaudubon.org or (520) 206-9900 or visit http://www.tucsonaudubon.org/

Esperanza Ranch

Esperanza Ranch is a 300-acre conservation easement managed by Tucson Audubon along the upper Santa Cruz River in northern Santa Cruz County. The project site includes bottomland grasslands, mesquite bosque and cottonwood-willow-ash riparian area. The habitat is heavily degraded, however, by decades of grazing and farming. The riparian zone is fed by a combination of natural flows and effluent from the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant. Project personnel produced a site assessment and work plan, and have begun planting, seeding, and other work.

Esperanza Ranch is an area of sensitive habitat and is access is governed by a conservation easement agreement between Tucson Audubon and the landowner. You may not visit except during official Tucson Audubon events led by Tucson Audubon staff members.

North Simpson Farm

Tucson Audubon, in cooperation with the City of Tucson, is enhancing wildlife habitat along the lower Santa Cruz River in northern Pima County. Floodplain lands at the site are managed by Tucson Water, which has a long-term agreement with Tucson Audubon allowing habitat restoration work.

The project site includes a riparian zone with flowing water produced by effluent releases from Tucson wastewater plants, along with adjacent abandoned farmland. Project personnel produced a site assessment and work plan, and have been planting and seeding at the site since 2000.

Martin Farm

The project site is only one mile from the North Simpson Farm and shares many characteristics, such as being located along the effluent-dominated lower Santa Cruz River. However, it is much smaller. There is a riparian zone, adjacent mesquite bosque and an upper terrace of creosote flats. Project personnel produced a site assessment and plan, and work began in the fall of 2006. In addition to planting, seeding and fighting invasives, erosion control features have been constructed.

Regular monitoring surveys are now being conducted at the restoration site. Avian surveys already show a good number of southern Arizona bird species that are utilizing the site. Many of these species, such as Abert's Towhee, Bell's Vireo and Loggerhead Shrike are already or may become threatened by the loss of this kind of riparian habitat.

Cochie Spring

Under an agreement with Pima County, Tucson Audubon has done restoration work at this small spring and homestead site in the Tortolita Mountains. Cattle were fenced out and Tucson Audubon cooperated in trash cleanup with county personnel. Appropriate plants were planted along the wash and irrigated for the first two years. Repeat photography and bird counts are monitoring progress at the site.

Learn from more Community Models

River Corridor at Esperanza Ranch

Santa Cruz River from Simpson Farm

Education and Resources

Buffelgrass Information Center

Invasive plant species are increasing their foothold in Arizona with serious consequences for natural resources and regional economies. Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare), a fire-prone African perennial grass that is spreading rapidly across the desert landscapes of southern and central Arizona, kills native plants through competition for space, water and nutrients, and introduces fire into an ecosystem that evolved without it. Left unchecked, the spread of buffelgrass will have serious and long-term consequences.

El Rio Medio
Critical riparian and cienega habitats have been lost in the region due to water resource changes in Pima County. Congress authorized the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to evaluate environmental restoration potentials along the Santa Cruz River, from the north boundary of the Tohono O’Odham Nation, north to Sanders Road, in Marana. This project is divided into three sections: El Rio Medio (sponsored by the City of Tucson), Paseo de las Iglesias (sponsored by Pima County), and Tres Rios del Norte (sponsored by Marana).

Pima County Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan

The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan has been developed using science-based principles shaped by public review and discussion, resulting in a plan that reflects community values. Work on the SDCP fulfills three areas of need: a science-based conservation plan, an update of the comprehensive land use plan, and compliance with federal regulations that protection of endangered species be addressed through a multiple species conservation plan.

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Community Partners

Sonoran Desert Weedwackers

The Sonoran Desert Weedwackers (SDWW), an outgrowth of the Southern Chapter of the Arizona Native Plant Society, is a community network of volunteers that began in 2000 with the goal of eradicating non-native invasive grasses with the particular focus on buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) in Tucson Mountain Park.

Tucson Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

One of the greatest pleasures of eating local organic produce comes from knowing that it is grown by farmers who have made conscious choices about cultivating their land in environmentally and socially responsible ways. Participating in such a mode of food production and consumption also fosters closer relationships among us, the foods we eat and those who grow it. Welcome to the Tucson CSA. The goal of Tucson CSA is to provide a direct connection between local producers and consumers.

Tucson Organic Gardeners

Tucson Organic Gardeners is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to promote and encourage the use of Nature's resources as a guide for gardening and sustainable living. To this end we avoid the use of toxic materials in our relationship with the Earth. We promote interest in and the knowledge of organic gardening, including composting, through programs open to the public, workshops, public events and other means of communication.

Desert Harvesters

Desert Harvesters is a volunteer-run, grassroots organization based in Tucson, Arizona, USA. We strive to promote, celebrate, and enhance, local food security and production by encouraging the planting of indigenous, food-bearing shade trees (such as the Velvet mesquite or Prosopis velutina) in water-harvesting earthworks, and then educating the public on how to harvest and process the bounty.

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