Research Links
Santa Cruz River Research Days - an annual event allowing partners to share their work.
Click on a year to learn more on that year's event.
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Learning Center of the American Southwest
A great website to learn about other projects on the Santa Cruz River and in other parts of the American Southwest.
Reports / Publications
See below for recent reports. To view a complete list Click Here
A Living River: Charting the Health of the Upper Santa Cruz River
Read more about this report series.
2010 Water Year - year three of annual report shows continued improvement on the Upper Santa Cruz River
Santa Cruz County Water Harvesting Guidance Manual
2012 manual providing information to those interested in water harvesting. Read more about this manual.
"State of" Reports Bibliography
2012 Annotated Bibliographyof reports summarizing the "State of....".
Riparian Health Score Card Bibliography
2012 List of Example Scorecards, with summaries and analyses.
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Upper Santa Cruz River
Riparian Vegetation Map
In 2006, Santa Cruz County’s Community Development Department, the University of Arizona’s Office of Arid Lands Studies, Friends of the Santa Cruz River, and the Sonoran Institute mapped the riparian vegetation along the Upper Santa Cruz River. This effort represents the first map describing the distribution, extent, and species composition of the riparian vegetation from the U.S./Mexico border to the Santa Cruz/Pima County border.
The mapping effort focused on 7 vegetation formations. A formation is a vegetation type that is defined by the structural appearance of the dominant species present, such as forest or shrubland. The drawings below summarize the formations mapped, in addition to the major species that were found.
This vegetation map creates a baseline or ‘snapshot’ in time of the location and composition of riparian vegetation along the Santa Cruz River.
Local residents and managers will have a better understanding of the location of important riparian vegetation. The Map Booklet provides a vegetation ‘road map’ for easy viewing of the mapping results. Read the report and view the map booklet by clicking on the links in the adjacent Resources - Santa Cruz River.






Hummingbird Circle
