TheThe OfficialOfficial GuideGuide © 2016 Tohono Chul 1 2 Table of Contents Introduction page 3 Heritage Our Past/Our Present page 5 Arts and Culture The “Heart” of Tohono Chul page 12 Education Living with the Desert page 19 Stewardship Living in the Desert page 25 Innovation Our Future page 35 2 for this natural desert habitat. Its location Introduction within existing migratory tracks provides a temporary home for many species of wild, Welcome to Tohono Chul native fauna. Thirty-eight species of birds where nature, art and culture make their permanent home here while an- connect! We’re in the Sonoran Desert, a other 57 migrant species visit seasonally. A highly diverse region with a variety of plants variety of reptiles and mammals, from gila and animals having remarkable survival skills monsters to gray fox, may be spotted on the adapted to an often inhospitable climate. In Park grounds. addition, here in our border region a confluence of cultures has interconnected Within these surroundings, Tohono Chul has with the natural environment, thus contrib- developed thematic displays using its col- uting to our distinctive regional character. lections to teach visitors about indigenous plants and animals, conservation, desert ecol- ogy and native cultures. We are the only The mission of Tohono Chul Park is organization in our region whose primary to enrich people's lives by connecting them focus is on these natural and cultural con- with the wonders of nature, art and culture nections, giving our visitors a unique per- in the Sonoran Desert region and inspiring spective on the Sonoran Desert. wise stewardship of the natural world. Our botanical collections consist primarily Tohono Chul is located in a sprawling urban of those plants native to our region or environment in one of the fastest growing adapted to the American Southwest. They cities in the United States. Residential hous- include more than 150 species of shrubs and ing, strip shopping centers, and non-native trees; 300 species of cacti and succulents; plants are quickly replacing the pristine and 50 species of wildflowers. In addition, desert. This loss of habitat makes the vul- we have the largest public collection of na- nerability of the desert even more obvious; tive Night-blooming Cereus (Peniocereus greggii) therefore our mission becomes even more in the United States! Moreover, visitors of- imperative. Our goal and purpose is to in- ten encounter the serendipitous — a bird spire everyone — visitors, community feeding its young; a lizard capturing its prey; members and, most importantly, children a rabbit scampering through the desert scrub — with the desire to learn how to live with — an opportunity to connect with the won- our desert home. We serve as a model for ders of nature. others to learn to be participant stewards of this fragile environment. Exploring the grounds you will encounter diverse exhibits such as the Ethnobotanical The site itself offers a dramatic setting for Garden, which displays some of the indig- our regional focus. Views of the majestic enous plants cultivated by Southwestern na- Santa Catalina Mountains form a backdrop tive peoples for food, medicine, and other 3 necessities of life; a re-circulating desert stream, which replicates the natural vegeta- one to 15 inches annually, most falling tion of Arizona’s riparian communities; the in winter and summer. Summer tempera- Geology Wall, which illustrates the geo- tures can reach over 110° and winters logic history of the nearby Santa Catalina are mild with only brief periods of freez- Mountains; our Desert Living Courtyard ing temperatures. The vegetation of filled with home landscaping ideas, which much of the Sonoran Desert is more var- promote native and arid-adapted plants in a ied than that of the other North Ameri- variety of design aesthetics; and, our Saguaro can deserts, with many trees and shrubs Discovery Trail where visitors can explore as well as large cacti and other succu- the life of the saguaro both through its cul- lents. tural connections to the Tohono O’odham and its botanical connections to the natural Tucson’s characteristic saguaro-palo verde history of the Sonoran Desert. plant communities place it within the Ari- zona Upland subdivision of the Sonoran Tohono Chul’s changing indoor arts and cul- Desert, one of six fairly distinct regions. tural exhibitions are strongly community ori- ented, and feature community groups and The average annual rainfall at the weather artists of all ages. station at Tucson International Airport is 11 inches, though we have seen as little Our educational philosophy blends the eco- as five inches in a year and as much as 24 logical, cultural and artistic, distinguishing inches. Mt. Lemmon in the Santa us in the community. Our programs are de- Catalinas north of the city receives 30 signed to enable our audiences to reach a to 35 inches annually. better understanding of the relationships that shape the land — the complex interplay Our precipitation is bi-seasonal -- in the among the desert and its plants, animals and winter from December through March people. With this understanding comes a and in the summer from July through richer appreciation for the desert’s allure and early September. Winter rains come in- a heightened sense of the need to preserve termittently from cool low-pressure sys- its beauty and biodiversity. tems moving from the Pacific Ocean. Heavy snows can fall in the higher moun- tains and Tucson itself has been known to receive a light dusting every several THE SONORAN DESERT years. The majority of the rain falls dur- The Sonoran Desert is a subtropical ing the summer monsoon season. These desert. It lies in portions of Arizona and localized and often violent thunder- southeast California in the United storms can drop prodigious amounts of States, and Sonora and Baja California rain in a short time -- up to four inches! in Mexico. Precipitation ranges from 4 sports and traded Our Past as far as the Gulf of California for PREHISTORIC ORIGINS shells and parrot heritage feathers from the The recent history of the site rainforests of Cen- begins in the early 1920s when land that tral America. Rincon red-on-brown would eventually be part of Tohono Chul’s Archaeological AD 925-1000 current 49 acres was homesteaded by evidence of Ho- Tucsonans interested in raising cash crops hokam habitation on the Park site includes like citrus and dates. However, centuries isolated plainware sherds discovered along before, prehistoric native peoples lived in the arroyos on the southern edge of the this place. Situated on the outer edge of property and a major find uncovered during the alluvial fan that extends outward from the construction of what is now the Lomaki the base of Pusch Ridge in the Santa Catalina House in the late 1960s. Broken pieces of Mountains, this section of Arizona Upland red and buff decorated pottery indicate the was occupied by the Hohokam before the site was occupied consecutively through first millennium. three Hohokam cultural phases — the Rillito and the Early and Middle Rincon — between Hohokam is a AD 850 and 1150. Pima word mean- ing “all used up,” THE 20TH CENTURY no doubt a refer- ence to the fact In the 1920s, the entire northwest section that after almost a of Tucson — called the “thermal belt” be- thousand years cause of the foothills’ milder winter climate their culture col- Rincon polychrome — was considered ideal for growing frost- AD 1000-1100 lapsed and by sensitive citrus and date palms. Maurice Reid, 1450 they no longer lived in the Tucson father of Gene for whom Tucson’s Reid Park basin. These early farmers occupied the Salt, and Zoo are named, owned property from Gila and Santa Cruz River basins beginning Orange Grove Road to Ina Road and beyond about AD 450. Sophisticated agriculturists, and planted it with groves of citrus trees. they built irrigation canals, lived in villages He introduced black date palms and grape- of pithouses surrounding a central plaza, im- fruit to the property that would become ported from Mesoamerica the tradition of Tohono Chul; aerial photos of the 1940s building ballcourts and engaging in team clearly show the rows of trees south of the farming in Tucson Basin Hohokam disappear by 2100 BC 1450 Hohokam living on site Father Kino arrives AD 850-1150 1692 5 homestead rights. Seaney also sank a well FROST POCKETS & THERMAL BELTS near Magee and Northern streets and sup- plied water to several residents in the area. Have you ever noticed the drop in tem- At that time, utility lines did not extend perature while crossing a desert wash at north of the Rillito River, and roads in the night? Cold air, being heavier than warm air, tends to flow down mountain can- area were unpaved. yons and settle in low-lying areas, which results in a temperature inversion. These Maurice Reid, acting as realtor for Seaney, low-lying areas may be 10° colder at sold the future site of Tohono Chul to John night than surrounding areas and are T. deBlois Wack in 1937. Mr. Wack was an sometimes called “frost pockets.” The avid polo player from Santa Barbara and a lighter, warm air forms “thermal belts” in friend of the Reverend George Ferguson, areas with good air drainage. These ther- pastor of the newly consecrated St. Philip’s mal belts may be several degrees warmer in the Foothills Episcopal Church. Follow- than surrounding areas and much warmer ing an afternoon spent drinking mint juleps, than the frost pockets on a relatively still the Fergusons and young Gene Reid escorted night; strong winds, however, will break the Wacks around the property. Their ob- up this inversion layer.