by Emma Rosenau, of the University of Vermont
Sky Island Borderlands program Summer 2021
This first week of Round River in the Sky Island Borderlands has had us experience the Arizona extremes. When we arrived at the Tucson airport, the whole West was on the tail end of a debilitating heat wave, and now just a week later it’s in the sixties and seventies and monsoons send us under a big old-fashioned tarp for classes, cooking, and being generally foolish. Yes, there are monsoons in Arizona!
Thinking that 110 degrees and sunny might not make for a very productive start to the program in Ruby, Ben and Brian rented us an Airbnb in Tucson for the first four days. Even the wind was hot outside. The air conditioning fought all day to keep our shuttered house below 75. Of course, it was a very fun beginning- we got to know each other, started reading and learning species, and got special ice cream thanks to Brylee’s dad. The biggest highlight of our time in Tucson was our visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Part zoo, part natural history museum, part natural desert landscape, the museum was truly amazing and a perfect introduction to some of the flora, fauna, and landscapes that we would encounter once we left Tucson.
We said goodbye to Tucson on Monday and drove into the Santa Catalina mountains, just northeast of the city. The difference was pretty amazing. Up here where we’ve been all week, at 6,000 feet and above, the temperature hasn’t gotten above the seventies and the desert has been replaced by Ponderosa pine and oak woodland. There’s even been quite a bit of rain- on Wednesday, a monsoon to rival any rainstorm on the east coast tried (but failed) to stop Brylee and I from chefing up our couscous.
Rain- and water- has everything to do with why we’re here. Our local partner organization, Sky Island Alliance, manages a huge spring (the water source, not the season) surveying project. In an arid place like Arizona, springs are extremely important for both wildlife and people, but very little data on them exists for how many of them there are scattered across the state, particularly its mountains, and their importance to everything that lives in this dry climate.
SIA’s Community Science Manager, Zoe, and Wildlife Specialist, Bryon, joined us for the first day, helped us identify springs, and taught us about the Catalina landscape. They also brought their intern Aleidys to join Round River for the week. For each spring, we navigate to a set of coordinates, then collect data about the amount of water (or often, the lack of water) at the spring, its size and shape, vegetation and wildlife, manmade structures, and wildfire damage. This information helps SIA identify which springs are the most important to the landscape and which are the most vulnerable to help guide conservation decisions.
I’m excited to be back in the desert in Ruby, but for now I am grateful to be seeking springs in the cool, rainy Catalinas.