The Arizona Native Plant Society and the Bureau of Land Management will celebrate National Public Lands Day on Saturday by unveiling a new interpretive display at Ironwood Forest National Monument northwest of Tucson.
The 8:30 a.m. ceremony at the Waterman Restoration Site will commemorate a 12-year effort to reclaim 18 acres of desert that was scarred by mining activity and overrun by invasive buffelgrass.
The newly designated site features a demonstration garden and interpretive signs describing the larger restoration effort, which involved more than 7,000 donated hours by hundreds of volunteers from the Arizona Native Plant Society and numerous other nonprofit groups.
The land was once known as βthe mother of all buffelgrass patches,β but today it represents the largest saguaro-palo verde upland landscape restoration of its kind anywhere in the Sonoran Desert, according to John Scheuring, who headed up the project as conservation chair of the native plant society.
Native trees, cactus and shrubs, nearly all of them grown on site from seed, now dot the landscape, which was reshaped to capture rainwater and sustain the restored plants.
Saturdayβs ceremony is open to the public.
The site is located at the western edge of Avra Valley. To get there from Interstate 10, drive 19 miles west on Avra Valley Road and turn left onto Johnstone Mine Road (the first left after the Pioneer mine sign). From there, drive one more mile, bearing left as you go.
Tucson wildlife: Two bobcats were caught on camera playing with each other in the backyard of a Tucson home on the southeast side over the last few days.
The furry felines are frequent visitors to the backyard and you can see their latest antics shared on Twitter,Β courtesy Tracie Robbins.
