Tucson Clean & Beautiful Summer 2009 Events & Volunteer Opportunities!

Hello Tucson Clean & Beautiful members, volunteers, community partners & friends:

The heat is building, add a dash of rain - summer has returned to Southern Arizona! The summer months are traditionally a quieter time for community volunteer activities, but from what I have seen there appears to be no stopping this year! Please take some time from your busy summer schedule to help improve our environment and quality of life here in the Tucson metro area. Only through each individual taking the time to get involved do we truly build a better community! Below are a few projects to get involved with this summer and fall. More to come, later!

Sincerely,

B.J. Cordova

Tucson Clean & Beautiful

Director of Programs

Visit www.tucsoncleanandbeautiful.org - help support hands-on efforts to recycle, plant trees, clean up litter and much more - make a tax-deductible donation today!

In this digest:

1. Household Hazardous Waste - new outreach location replaces the Oracle & Ina site - Saturday, March 7, 2009 and monthly at various sites

2. Buffelgrass and other invasive plant - training events, and removal activities - throughout June 2009 and ongoing

3. Solar Power 101: A Community Education Series

4. Rainwater harvesting tours, training, and hands-on volunteer opportunities

5. Tucson Parks and Recreation's Mud Puddle Party! Call for Volunteers

6. The Nature Conservancy Rainwater Harvesting Tours-weekly, throughout the year!

7. Iskash*taa Refugee Harvesting Network - ongoing, harvests fruits & vegetables from your trees & garden!

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1. Household Hazardous Waste - new outreach location replaces the Oracle & Ina site - Saturday, March 7, 2009 and monthly at various sites

The Household Hazardous Waste monthly outreach site on Ina Rd. just west of Oracle Rd. has been moved as of February 2009, to a new location. Continuing on the first Saturday of each month (including this June 6, 2009) from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, the new location is at Pusch Ridge Christian Church, 440 W. Calle Concordia, Oro Valley, AZ 85704. The main site also continues to be available at I-10 and Sweetwater Dr. near Prince Rd. on each Friday and Saturday; and outreach locations on the first Saturday at 1102 W. Irvington, and 7575 E. Speedway Blvd. Volunteers are needed for all sites, and the public is also welcome to bring its household hazardous waste items to these locations, free of charge. For more information, visit www.tucsonaz.gov/hhw or call 888-6947.

2. Buffelgrass and other invasive plant - training events, and removal activities - throughout June 2009 and ongoing

Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare), a fire-prone grass introduced from the African savannah, has gained a foothold in central and southern Arizona. Buffelgrass crowds out native plants, and can fuel frequent and devastating fires in what has generally been a fireproof desert. Competition for water weakens and kills desert plants, including large trees and cacti, while dense roots and ground shading prevent germination of native seeds. If left uncontrolled, it will irrevocably alter the Sonoran Desert.

YOU have the power to help control the spread of buffelgrass! We are looking for volunteers who are interested in learning how to identify, map, treat and monitor buffelgrass.

ONGOING HANDS-ON EFFORTS - LEARN PROPER TECHNIQUES FOR REMOVAL:

Please contact the listed project coordinator for more details on times and locations, tools or supplies needed, and to sign up!

- Tanque Verde Valley Weedwackers (volunteering at washes and roadways in the Irvington Rd./Pantano Rd. vicinity), June 6, 2009 and typically takes place on the first Saturday of each month. Please contact Sally at 749-2184 or sawynd@aol.com

- Sabino Canyon Recreation Area: Arundo (Giant Reed Grass) removal projects typically take place on the first Sunday of each month, as well as periodically on Saturdays in mid-month. Please contact Kendall at 971-2385 or tucson.arundo@gmail.com

- Saguaro National Park East (Old Spanish Trail just north of Escalante), typically holds an invasive plant removal project on the second Saturday of each month. Please contact Bethany Hontz, 733-5187 or bethany_hontz@nps.gov

- Sonoran Desert Weedwackers (Tucson Mountains area) typically takes place on the third Saturday of each month as well as the second Wednesday. Please contact Marilyn at 579-6525 or mfhanson@comcast.net

- Town of Oro Valley: Volunteers needed, Saturday, June 13, 2009 from about 7 am - 10:00 am.

Volunteers are needed to help cut and dig out the invasive grasses, Buffelgrass and Fountain Grass. Tools & bags provided, but wear sturdy boots, hat, work gloves, long-sleeve shirts, long pants, and sunscreen and bring plenty of water, if you have shovels and bars please bring with you. There will be a 5 - 10 minute safety briefing and information about the grasses prior to the "PULL". Location is the east end of River Walk Dr. off of Avenida Vallejo, south side of Lambert Lane west of 1st Ave by electric sub-station (Unisource Energy Corp). Please park at end of cul-de-sac on River Walk Dr. Please contact Carmen Ryan at 229-5070 or cryan@orovalleyaz.gov

3. Solar Power 101: A Community Education Series

Monday, June 8, 2009, 6 - 8 PM at the Woods Memorial Branch Library, 3455 N. 1st Ave. (one block south of Prince Road). Topics include:

- Energy Efficiency for the Home: a presentation about cost-effective and do-it-yourself ways to improve the energy efficiency of your home, renovation possibilities, and incentives.

- Conservation and Sustainable Development: a presentation by the City of Tucson's Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development on available services and plans by the City to use stimulus money for energy efficiency upgrades on public facilities.

- Solar Power for the Home - Getting Started: a presentation on the basics of residential solar electric and hot water equipment, installation procedures, and financial incentives.

Space is limited for this presentation. For more information please visit:

http://giffords.house.gov/Solar%20101_Woods%20Flyer.pdf

Please RSVP by Friday, June 5 to: rsvpSolar@mail.house.gov or 520-881-3588

4. Rainwater harvesting tours, training, and hands-on volunteer opportunities

You've heard about the importance of rainwater harvesting. Now here are some opportunities to learn how to do it, and build natural habitat throughout neighborhoods in the Tucson metro area in the process.

- Tucson Audubon: Learn how harvest rainwater and create habitat in your neighborhood. Tucson Audubon is working with the Barrio Kroeger Lane neighborhood to install rainwater-harvesting, bird-friendly landscape demonstrations. Please come help dig rainwater harvesting basins (some will have been started with a backhoe to save time), line them with rock to prevent erosion, plant native trees and shrubs in them, and put down a layer of mulch. Exert yourself as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. Wear a hat and work clothes; bring water and gloves if you have them. All tools are provided, as are drinks and snacks. Email Kendall Kroesen, kkroesen@tucsonaudubon.org or call 971-2385 for directions, more information and to sign up. Upcoming volunteer dates and times (you can come for all or part of the time periods below):

* Saturday June 13, 7am-12pm

* Saturday June 27, 5pm-8pm

- Watershed Management Group: Cistern workshop part II - Friday June 5th, 8am - noon

This workshop was postponed due to rain and reschedule for June 5th for the second half of cistern installation at the 4-H Rocks and Ropes course. The cistern is a very large steel culvert design harvesting water from a gazebo. The workshop will include sealing the tank, finishing up the plumbing, and connecting the downspout and rain head to the tank. To sign up for this workshop, please email Lisa Shipek at lisa@watershedmg.org or call 396-3266. Max capacity 10 volunteers at this workshop.

5. Tucson Parks and Recreation's Mud Puddle Party! Call for Volunteers

Tucson Parks and Recreation will be hosting its annual Mud Puddle Party in Reid Park (22nd St. and Country Club Rd.) - A citywide special event featuring the opportunity to play in Mud! Don‛t miss the fun! Volunteers are needed on Wednesday through Friday, July 29, 30, 31 in the morning 7AM to 11AM and then on the day of the event, Saturday, August 1, 2009 from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (the event itself is from 8:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday). Participants from toddlers to teens to those who wish we were still teens, will be climbing, crawling, sliding and slopping their way through Mud Obstacle Courses and wallowing in the murky “Pig Pen”. Food vendors, music, and entertainment will complete this family-friendly experience. In 2008, participants totaled more than 6,000 participants and spectators. Cost: Free to the Public - Get involved as a volunteer and contribute to the success of this event that grows each year! Volunteer work may include some set-up and preparation of “Mud Pits”, facilitating and maintaining safety of a ”Mud Pit”, assisting at the registration table and with distribution of wristbands to participants, some basic breakdown and cleaning around the ”Mud Pits”, and of course having fun!

For more information please call Margaret at 837-8044 or email

Margaret.Loquasto-Jaquay@tucsonaz.gov

6. Tucson Nature Conservancy Rainwater Harvesting Tours - weekly, various dates throughout the year

The Nature Conservancy’s Tucson office, at 1510 E. Fort Lowell Rd. is continuing its rainwater harvesting tours by popular demand, to help educate the public about a variety of active and passive water harvesting techniques that can be implemented at homes and businesses. Call 622-3861 x 3437 for more information and to sign up for upcoming tour dates, or to arrange a special unscheduled group tour. Volunteers are also needed to lead these tours; training provided.

7. Iskash*taa Refugee Harvesting Network - ongoing, harvests fruits & vegetables from your trees & garden!

Do you have food growing in your neighborhood that goes to waste? Iskash*taa Refugee Harvesting Network is a community-based organization of refugees from all over the world. Iskash*taa means working cooperatively together in Somali. The organization harvests and collects foods that would otherwise go to waste, including approximately 30,000 pounds a year from Tucson area home yards and local farms. This food is then re-distributed to hundreds of refugee families. To arrange for harvesting or for more information, call 440-0100 or eiswerth@fruitmappers.org - online http://www.fruitmappers.org

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Tucson Clean & Beautiful, 4004 S. Park Ave. P.O. Box 27210, Tucson, AZ 85726 - (520) 791-3109

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