Field Trip Overview

Saturday March 26, 2005

8:00 AM depart UA West Stadium (meet at Gate 15)

Stop 1 Sonoran desert biome; proposed Asarco mine location

Stop 2 Oak-woodland/savannah biome

Stop 3 Grassland biome, including woody perennial encroachment

Rest Stop- Sonoita

Stop 4 Grazing effects (Elgin)

Stop 5 Audubon Research Ranch; Van 1 presents positives and negatives of grazing

Lunch- Sonoita

Drive through Box Canyon

Stop 6 Vegetation on terrace surfaces on west Side of Santa Rita Mts.

Stop 7 Pecan groves (Green Valley)

Stop 8 Pima Road CAP recharge project

Rest Stop- Asarco visitor center

Stop 9 Mining and reclamation

Stop 10 Mining tailings; Van 2 presents positives and negatives of mining

(Stop 11 San Xavier Mission- time permitting)

Stop 12 Pima Community College Desert Vista Campus; Van 3 presents positive and negatives of water acquisition and transfer

Back to UA

This is not a field trip to a museum, but is an outdoor field trip for natural sciences. Your experience will be that of a field trip into natural settings, so be prepared as necessary. For those who go, we will have a long day, but hopefully fun and we will learn a lot. We listed 7pm as the possible end time of the field trip on the syllabus, but we have always returned before 6pm in recent years. In the morning at the higher elevations we go, it will typically be much cooler than Tucson, so you should consider long pants and bringing a jacket, depending on the weather forecast- this particularly important if it is windy.

For Your Comfort, Health and Success, BRING:

1. thinking cap

2. pen/pencil, notebook

3. sunscreen, sunglasses, hat

4. windy-cool-showery gear as needed

5. comfortable shoes

6. lunch, water (there will be "country store" at place we stop for lunch, so you could buy something there)

7. student visa for Foreign students

Presentations should contain preface (why grazing/water/minerals important in today's world), positive and negative environmental consequences associated with grazing/water/minerals, ideas you might have to minimize negative environmental effects from grazing/water/minerals (operationally, life-style, economically, geographically, agriculturally, domestically, industrially, or whatever might be relevant to a presentation). The other 2 groups have responsibility of asking critical questions about your presentation.