Pima County

You might already know that buffelgrass is an invasive species, originally introduced in Arizona for cattle. You might have heard about recent spraying and pulling of buffelgrass to try to slow its spread and diminish the threat it poses to the ecosystems of the Sonoran Desert.

Efforts to control the invasive species buffelgrass are expanding across the city of Tucson. The School of Natural Resources and the Environment is involved at several sites including Tumamoc Hill and the Santa Rita Experimental Range. SNRE research specialist, Travis Bean is orchestrating the removal of buffelgrass from Tumamoc Hill on the west side of Tucson.

The fifth annual Research Insights in Semiarid Ecosystems (RISE) Symposium will feature invited speakers presenting recent research on the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, University of Arizona Santa Rita Experimental Range and other outdoor laboratories.  There will also be a poster session where students and researchers are encouraged to report on completed or in-progress studies.  Time will be available for questions from the audience.   

During Tucson's dramatic monsoons our streets are scoured by stormwater. The water drains down storm sewers, gullies and washes, and eventually to areas that could be used for recharge. Should the city actively recharge our depleted groundwater with storm runoff? Through the project ‘Tradeoffs of Enhanced Urban Runoff-Recharge and Water Quality', SNRE Assistant Professor Kathleen Lohse is finding out if pollutants, metals, pathogens and nutrients in storm runoff present a challenge to stormwater recharge.