Arizona Plant Fest 2020
Arizona Plant Fest 2020
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Tucson Audubon Society

ABOUT

Tucson Audubon inspires people to enjoy and protect birds through recreation, education, conservation, and restoration of the environment upon which we all depend.


For information on Arizona birds and watching, supporting habitat for wildlife, protecting and advocating for conservation and lots more, please visit our website.

LOCATION

Tucson Audubon Society
300 E University Blvd. #120 

Tucson, AZ 85705

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August 11-15, 2021

Southeast Arizona Birding Festival

We are so happy to announce that we'll be LIVE and IN-PERSON for the 2021 Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, August 11-15! Come out and get to know our friendly local birding and conservation community and the dazzling array of watchable wildlife experiences accessible from Tucson!

Find out more

VIRTUAL EXHIBIT

Tucson Audubon Habitat Restoration Via Nestboxes program. Pruned and young trees in residential areas often don't provide good nesting locations for cavity-nesting birds but they do provide enough foraging opportunities to support the birds in the area. This creates high demand for cavities in saguaros and other trees. By installing a nestbox in your yard, you can improve nesting habitat for our local cavity-nesting birds. Learn more at tucsonaudubon.org/nestbox. Contact Olya Phillips ophillips@tucsonaudubon.org. Photo Olya Phillips.

    NATIVE PLANTS FOR HABITAT AT HOME

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    Tucson Audubon SOCIETY

    About TUCSON AUDUBON SOCIETY

    Tucson Audubon inspires people to enjoy and protect birds through recreation, education, conservation, and restoration of the environment upon which we all depend.

    Tucson Audubon Society's Restoration Department works to restore degraded lands in Southern Arizona. Projects range from invasive species removal, to habitat restoration in areas where current conditions don't support naturally occurring ecosystems. Home habitat creation has also become a significant addition to Tucson Audubon’s restoration work and supports ecosystem health at a variety of scales.

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    VIRTUAL EXHIBIT

    Tucson Audubon, in cooperation with the City of Tucson, is enhancing wildlife habitat along the lower Santa Cruz River in northern Pima County. The 300-acre project site includes the effluent-maintained riparian zone and floodplain agricultural fields that have been fallow for 35 years. Restoration efforts began in the fall of 2018 planting 500 mesquite trees along a newly designed floodplain overflow channel and installation of temporary irrigation to facilitate establishment. Next steps include the finalization of the overflow channel and feeder washes, planting the preferred floodplain species for the area, and creation of large stormwater detention basins, as well as ongoing invasive plant removal and monitoring.

    Erosion control is an important restoration component affecting moisture retention and plant establishment. When nearly flat terrain has been cleared of vegetation, sheet flows during intense rain events scour topsoil and organic matter leaving soils that allow reduced infiltration. Fish scales are a simple and effective tool to limit erosion by modifying the topography and providing opportunities for water to percolate and plants to establish. These structures are formed using a single U-shaped row of rocks arranged in an overlapping and offset pattern resembling fish scales. They capture sediment and organic material and slow the water down as it moves across the land. As the vegetation establishes within the fish scales, a positive feedback loop is created with more water and organic material being intercepted leading to further plant establishment. The photos here include small brush piles sheltering seeded areas. The brush piles can reduce the soil surface temperature by up to 30° further promoting successful plant establishment.

    Habitat creation is not limited to large scale projects, it can begin with homeowners looking to do their own part for the environment - for instance by replacing water-intensive lawns with native plants. This home habitat project began with the removal of a large lawn of bermuda grass using solarization, eliminating the need for herbicides. First the grass was cut down to soil level with a weedwhacker and then the whole lawn was deep watered for a week. Once the moisture had reached a sufficient depth, a shallow trench was dug around the perimeter of the treatment area and two layers of clear plastic sheeting were laid down on top of the grass and into the trench. The trench was backfilled to seal in the moisture, to carry the heat, and trap air that got superheated in the May and June sun. After several weeks the ground was sterilized killing seeds and living material of all plant species including the bermuda grass. Once the grass had been treated, the plastic sheeting was removed and habitat creation work could proceed without the threat of the grass’s return.

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