The 2024 Santa Cruz River Research Days took place virtually and in-person, starting Wednesday, April 24 through Thursday, April 25, with a River Bioblitz on Friday, April 26. The events were held at Pima Community College’s Desert Vista Campus in Tucson, Arizona, with a River Bioblitz conducted at a private property just north of the US/Mexico Border.
With the theme for this year’s Research Days being Stories of a Multinational River, presentations covered a variety of topics, and the cultural significance of the Santa Cruz River was clear, as well as the importance of the river to the communities that have called this river a home for millennia. A highlight of the event was our keynote speaker, Deni J. Seymour, an archaeologist focusing on the recent discovery of new archaeological sites from the Coronado expedition.
We also welcomed a symposium of media specialists from local journals and news stations to have a candid conversation about what makes a good media story. Included were discussions of how to write a more compelling press release for scientists and those in non-profit work. Our range of cultural and scientific presentations broke down into three themes: community effort, cultural impacts of the Santa Cruz River, and ecology and conservation. Through these themes, we encapsulated the multifaceted stories that tie our communities to the Santa Cruz River.
Culture Impacts of the Santa Cruz River:
People have called the Santa Cruz River home for 12,000 years leading to rich cultural ties throughout the communities in the region. To kick off research days, Phyllis Valenzuela, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, shared her memories growing up along The River and what its revitalization means to her. We heard from archaeologists speaking on the history of the original folks who lived along the river, the Coronado Expedition, and how to get youth involved and interested in the history of the region. Bringing youth involvement to today, we had Josefina Cardenas share beautiful and insightful poetry written by youth from her own Barrio Kroeger Lane, as a celebration of the importance of Santa Cruz, and the strong connection between the community and the river. By keeping stories of the past alive and connecting with the future of the Santa Cruz River, we can honor and continue our communities’ connections to the river.
Community Restoration Effort:
To keep an endangered river running takes tremendous community effort. From non-profit and individual work to county programs, the communities along Santa Cruz come together to protect this river. We heard from Pima County’s Regional Flood Control, Office of Conservation and Sustainability, and PSOMAS on parks and being added along the river to offset urban heat island effects, expand riparian areas, and improve wildlife corridors. Partnering with citizen scientists, Pima County Conservation Lands and Resources plans to track amphibian population distribution and Sky Island Alliance maps the thousands of springs in the surrounding mountains and watershed. Coupling citizen science data with historical data, like that collected by G.E.P. Smith and extensive GIS mapping, shown by Ernest Sinohui, helps inform projects on how areas have changed over time and plan for what tangible restoration looks like. Using this data helps non-profits like Watershed Management Group (WMG) plan informed and innovative funding projects for restoration and continued monitoring in areas like Rillito Creek. By communities breaking down silos and sharing data, we can paint a clear picture of the future of the Santa Cruz River.
Ecology and Conservation:
Merging culture, community, and conservation, Luke Cole announced the coalition-led initiative of the Urban National Wildlife Refuge along the Santa Cruz River to help protect the delicate ecology of the region. We celebrated the return of an endangered fish, the Gila topminnow, and its use as an indicator of river health. Members of the coalition, like WMG, Bobcats in Tucson, and the Tucson Audubon Society spoke on the efforts to return of the beaver to the watershed and how protecting the water ways kept iconic wildlife, like the Saguaro and bobcat, thriving even miles from the river corridor.
Multiple speakers represented the University of Arizona’s efforts to explore the interactions between the Santa Cruz River’s natural and urban environments including riparian vegetation’s response to different flow conditions, distribution of native and non-native turtles, abundance of dragonflies and damselflies, and overall river health. An analysis of trash accumulation in the river was offered by Stephanie Winick, an EarthGrant intern working with Sonoran Institute. Continued remediation of the Santa Cruz River through trash removal was a common thread in many presentations.
To put the research in “Research Days” into action, we spent the final day of the symposium near the US/MX border recording the insects, fish, plants, and other wildlife in a thriving section of the Santa Cruz River. We had 20 citizen scientists, ranging from young enthusiasts to grad students, to seasoned scientists working together to document and identify as many species as possible and contribute data to a larger Border Bioblitz organized by Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers (NGen). In the 3-hour block, we were able to record dozens of unique species in the area.
Overall, this three-day event was a wonderful celebration of the Santa Cruz River and its importance to the Tucson communities. We look forward to gathering next year to explore the river and its bounty once again. Santa Cruz River Research Days is part of Sonoran Institute’s Santa Cruz River program. Our focus is to invest in water for the environment and communities along the Santa Cruz River. Our goal for Santa Cruz is to retain flowing reaches and restore conditions throughout the watershed. We envision a future where a revitalized river corridor is an integral part of our community that strengthens our local economy and reconnects residents of the area to the river. View this year’s recordings in English here. Vea las gradations de este año en Español aquí. View proceedings and presentations from past events.
Santa Cruz River Research Days Steering Committee:
- Sonoran Institute
- Michael Bogan, University of Arizona
- Ben Lomeli, Friends of the Santa Cruz River
- Tony Palmer, Tumacácori National Historical Park
Real-time English–Spanish translation of the presentations was offered over Zoom for virtual and in-person attendees. Proceedings and pdf copies of the presentations from this year and past events can be found at www.tiny.cc/SCRRD_Archive. Other information about this annual event can be found at the Sonoran Institute website www.sonoraninstitute.org; use the site’s search tool by entering “Research Days.”
All photos by Julius Schlosburg
