The main pond at Agua Caliente Park is getting a “haircut” this week — with crews removing a near-jungle of invasive cattails to reduce water use and dramatically increase the visible surface area of the pond.
Workers — using a specially designed “cattail cutter boat” — began removing the tall, water-using plants on Monday, Oct. 12, and work could continue into next week, said Kerry Baldwin, manager of Pima County’s Natural Resources Division. The county manages the park northeast of Tucson.
“We’re not removing all the cattails. We’re just giving the pond a haircut,” Baldwin said. “Our intent is to set the invasion of cattails back a bit in the pond. We want to trim it back but save enough cattails to benefit native wildlife” including birds and aquatic wildlife.
Baldwin said the cattail removal is aimed at significantly increasing the visible surface area of the pond.
“People like the idea of seeing more open water,” he said. “We want to open that surface area up to where we have about 70 percent open water and about 30 percent cattails” on the pond, which is now covers a little over two acres.
Crew members, including workers from the park staff and members of the Arizona Conservation Corp, use boats, poles, large rakes and other tools to gather the cattail cuttings.
Some work on foot — wading into the pond, which is only 3 to 4 feet deep in most areas. A few spots have deeper water.
A mini-excavator with a clamp to hold the cattails is used to load them onto a small truck for removal from the site.
After years of drought that had left the pond nearly dry, the county has been bringing it back by pumping well water into it.
“Pumping at peak season is about 75,000 gallons a day into the pond to maintain it,” Baldwin said.
He said a bond, coming up for a vote in November, would provide funds for additional renovation of the pond.
