Water Roots - Snowfall and frogs: Connecting mountain and desert waters

Join us at Borderlands Brewing Company, 119 E Toole Ave, Tucson, for a pint and presentation on the importance of Sky Island streams to sustaining our lowland water sources.

Desert waters are precious and essential for life—and in Tucson, much of it comes from the mountains that surround our city. An important water source in the Rincons and Santa Catalina Mountains are tinajas, the local name for rocky stream pools that collect and hold water during the driest months of the year. Some are fed by springs, but all are connected in some way to rain and snow that falls in the mountains.

This talk on the dynamics of water in the Rincon Mountains of Saguaro National Park will explore how desert animals such as leopard frogs and large mammals depend on changing seasonal waters that are intimately connected to the landscape around them.

Don Swann, Biologist at Saguaro National Park, has worked since 1993 at Saguaro National Park, first as interpretive ranger and then as biologist. He works with many local partners on a wide variety of natural resource issues, with research focused on long-term monitoring of saguaros, lowland leopard frogs, terrestrial wildlife, and water resources.

This is part of our Water Roots series with Sky Island Alliance. Learn more about the series here.