The Tucson Natural Resources team is comprised of individuals with diverse backgrounds, education, certificates, memberships and fields of interest including: birding, herpetology, mammalogy, botany and ecology, and a docent at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
All team members are certified herbicide applicators, possessing
structural pest control applicator licenses, and are members of the Southwest Vegetation Management
Association (SWVA).
Highway corridors in Region 2 pass
through distinct biotic communities
(biomes):
- Sonoran Desertscrub (Arizona Uplands and Lower Colorado)
- Semidesert Grassland
- Madrean Evergreen Woodland
- Plains and Great Basin Grassland
- Chihuahuan Desertscrub
- Petran Montane Conifer Forest
- Subalpine
Tucson Natural Resources Region 2 is responsible for managing land, wildlife, and vegetation inventory of 1588 miles (Map) of the following roadways:
All of the following: SR (State Routes) 75, 78, 80, 82,
83, 86, 90, 92, 181, 186, 189, 266, 286, 289, 366 and 386,
and Interstate I-19.
And portions of the following roadways:
-
I-10 from the junction with I-8 to New Mexico border
-
US 70 from county line (approximately MP 270) to New Mexico border
-
SR 77 Tucson to the junction of SR177
-
SR 79 Oracle Junction to Florence
-
SR 85 Maricopa County Line to Lukeville
-
US 191 from Douglas to milepost 220.7 south of Alpine.
The diversity of biotic communities and explosive population growth present on-going issues in the region: wildfires, flooding, noxious/invasive weeds, water/wind erosion, tree/brush encroachment. The diversity of biotic communities and explosive population growth present on-going issues in Region 3:
- Timing of pre-emergent herbicide applications to coinicide with rain events
- Extensive areas of sandy soils which are unsuitable for pre-emergent herbicide applications
- Tree and brush encroachment limiting visibility
- Tall herbaceous weeds limiting visibility
- Bark beetle infestations
- Wildland fires
The year-round resource
management projects in the Region are:
- Tree/Brush Control
- Noxious/Invasive Weed Control
- Erosion Prevention
Region 2 is involved in cooperative projects with various agencies:
- Arizona Game and Fish department to protect the Desert Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus edwardsi) and we are assisting with the Safe Harbor Agreement.
- SkyIsland Alliance to identified wildlife corridors.
- Tohono O’dom Nation to protect the desert tortoise on
the rights-of-way.
- National Park Service at Organ Pipe National Monument and the Forest Service where our roads cross their borders.
Current Projects in the
Tucson Region.
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