LANDING PLACE

COTTONWOOD

We cheer the return of cottonwoods to the Heritage Reach. These trees are an essential part of Sonoran Desert riparian areas and a key indicator of ecosystem health—what a gift to have them here in the Santa Cruz River. They provide habitat for native bird species and help to stabilize riverbanks, control erosion, and provide shade. With just the slightest breeze, their leaves shimmer, catching sunlight and bringing the whole riverbed to life with movement and sound.

COUCH’S SPADEFOOT TOAD

Maybe the sexiest species in the riverbed, these stealthy creatures wait for water to make their mating moves. They live most of the year underground, but as soon as waters flow or the monsoon rains come, they emerge from the sand and stone to breed. Males sing out “Ba-ooow, ba-ooow!” to draw the females, then clutch them tightly at the waist to mate. After laying their eggs (as many as 3,000, which must hatch and mature fast before the water dries up), the toads return to the cool underland, waiting for the next waters to return.

DUCKWEED

This small aquatic plant floats on the surface of slow-moving or still water in the river, like a collection of green polka-dots. The tiny leaves of duckweed collide on the water’s surface to create shade for tadpoles and amphibians underwater. This small but mighty, fast-growing plant also helps to treat wastewater, capturing toxins and odors and controlling algal blooms and mosquito breeding. It can absorb excess nitrogen and phosphates—as useful as it is beautiful.

GILA TOPMINNOW

This wee Sonoran Desert native fish has an incredible comeback story. After a mosquito fish from the east was introduced to this watershed in the 1920s, the Gila topminnow nearly disappeared from Southern Arizona, and by 1976 it was listed as federally endangered. But when Pima County upgraded the wastewater treatment plant in 2013, cleaner water created the habitat the minnows needed to survive in the wild. In 2017, Gila topminnows returned to the Santa Cruz River, after 70 years away. Today you can see them darting through the shallows, in and out of the duckweed!

KILLDEER

Common throughout North America, these shorebirds (yes, shore-birds!), live year-round in the Sonoran Desert along washes and riparian areas. Their name comes from the “kill-deer, kill-deer” call they make in flight and at night. Easy to spot with bold black stripes, they make funny run-stop-and-bob movements when foraging. They build nests after laying eggs (!), usually of simple scraps and white shell bits, pebbles, and plastic. When it comes to warding off predators, killdeer will feign injury, brood on a site where there are no eggs, and rush wildly toward potential thieves, wings out, calling loudly.

POLAR POP CUP

This design was created in-situ by inking the base of a Polar Pop. This iconic Styrofoam cup from Circle K—$.79 with free refills —is prevalent in the river, found tucked into brush or blowing in the wind along the riverbed. Like the river itself, the Polar Pop is a receptacle for water: a resource all species rely on, but one not all species have access to. Its presence here reminds us what is both essential and absent. Our friends at Reconciliación en el Rio remind us that cleaning up Polar Pops from the river is a starting point, an invitation to the broader ritual of reconciliation.

SHOPPING CART

Byproducts of human life remain a steady presence in the Santa Cruz River. Shopping carts are carried to the riverbed by folks needing to transport their belongings or homes. Once here, the carts get discarded in the sand and swept away by summer monsoon rains or caught in strainers. When grounded long enough, they become micro-ecosystems, fostering new plant growth and habitat. This design was created from an in-situ print we made with ink on the inside of a red plastic Target shopping cart.

SONORAN MUD TURTLE

Native to the Sonoran Desert, these turtles were reintroduced in the Santa Cruz in 2023. Sometimes called “stinkpot” turtles because they release a smell when disturbed, they can move on both land and water and can hold their breath underwater for a long time. Their thick carapaces (shells) can close almost fully, protecting them from predators and helping them remain dormant during times of scarce water. Hatchlings are teeny tiny, weighing only three grams when they first come out!

VELVET MESQUITE

This design honors the 7-square-mile mesquite bosque that lined sections of the Santa Cruz River. With over a million trees, such a bosque is hard for most of us in Tucson now to imagine. By the 1960s, that lush forest disappeared due to groundwater pumping and deforestation to meet the needs of a growing urban population. But the flowing water today means mesquites once again line the riverbanks, offering shade, habitat, and tasty seed pods to birds, round-tailed ground squirrels, coyotes, and us!

VERMILION FLYCATCHER

This brilliant red bird—with a brown-black mask, wings, and tail—draws “oohs and aahs” from even the most reluctant birder. While the male attracts attention, the brown and salmon-colored female is often close by. When courting, the male offers her gifts, usually a shiny beetle or colorful butterfly. These delightful birds perch on branches or wires, waiting for insects, which they catch in mid-air. They love desert scrub and riparian areas, but you can also spot them in urban Tucson neighborhoods, an always welcome splash of color.

WESTERN PYGMY BLUE BUTTERFLY

Like dragonflies, butterflies make the river corridor come to life with color and movement. Little mirrors of the river itself! This one is the smallest butterfly in North America, with a wingspan no bigger than two centimeters. But it still gets around, from Central and South America and to Oregon. It has even been spotted in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. Tiny and trepidatious, indeed.

WESTERN ZEBRA-TAILED LIZARD

Named for the dazzling stripes on the underside of their tails, this saucy, stylish lizard sprints across the sandy riverbed, stopping to munch on bees, wasps, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants and plants. Adapted to high temperatures, they stay active throughout the heat of summer and sometimes sleep above ground on warm nights. To protect themselves from predators, they “wag” their striped tails then zip off with their tails arched over their back.

PAST

Those that have come and gone from the Santa Cruz River—black bear, jaguar, beaver, and others—still offer traces of their existence. We mourn the loss or disappearance of species that no longer live here, while celebrating the continuous cycles of life.

FUTURE

A river is nothing if not a constant current of change. A restored river offers new possibility for species thought to have been lost forever and for those yet to return. See you soon, we hope.

Landing Place is made possible by a MOCA-Tucson Night Bloom grant.

May 2025 event sponsorship from Ward 1 Council member Lane Santa Cruz.

September 2025 funding from Sonoran Institute.