EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Explanation:  This week we are flying along the southern edge of the Santa Catalina Mountains in northern Tucson, Arizona.  In recent years, massive housing developments have pushed northward from this sprawling, growing city, and now cover the foothills.  

Houses are everywhere, built onto the desert alluvial fans (bajadas).  This highly affluent development is called Catalina Foothills.  Housing developments push right up onto the very boundary of Coronado National Forest and between the two separate units of Saguaro National Park.  The mountain environments of the region comprise what is called "Sky Island" ecosystems in which unique arrays of montane plants and animals occur.  

The ecological significance of this sprawl is that, for wildlife to disperse between the national park segments or that use the foothills as habitat, they now have to contend with golf courses, roads, people, and housing areas that have altered the structure of the desert environment.  Coyotes, wild boar, desert cottontails, bobcats, pumas, coatis, ringtails, and many other species are finding their desert habitats and travel lanes increasingly constrained.  

What can be done?  It may be too late for this area but other desert urban sprawls could plan for expansion by also allowing for protection of habitat corridors between and among parks and natural areas.  Natural environments and wildlife can only add to the value and magic of a place in which to live.  More than that, proper planning can reduce or avoid tragedies from intermittent natural disasters such as the 2006 Sabino Canyon Flood that washed out roads and bridges.