Written by Rebekah Sutherland, Assistant Crew Leader
This past week, the Wild Stew Crew dug into 4 days of work in the City of Tucson. As we typically work an 8 day hitch, this was a half-sized hitch. These 4 days were a perfect amount of time to make big progress on rock work projects in support the City of Tucson’s Green Stormwater Initiative (GSI). The crew set out to complete erosion mitigation work at the Sunland Vista GSI site that we had started the previous couple months.
At the Sunland Vista GSI site, there is a series of basins that capture rainwater, reducing flooding on the streets nearby and providing water to a variety of plants, including shade-giving trees. Additionally, there is a loop trail that circumvents the site, providing neighbors and neighborhood dogs a way to enjoy this shade. After summer monsoon storms that brought heavy flashes of rain, the trail was damaged by heavy water flow that began eroding the surface of the path. Previously, we had 24 tons of rock delivered to the site and began constructing retaining structures that helped retain tread level, support soil retention and plant growth on the hillside, and keep water flowing into basins in the most sustainable way possible. This hitch, we assessed that our work was holding up very well, and so we continued on the same work!
The crew constructed 4 armored bands of rock along the edge of the trail, 2 of which helped create more walkable space around picnic tables that were previously eroding heavily. Additionally, we created sediment traps, terraced steep slopes, and armored the sides of concrete inlets. By the end of the work week, we had used the last bits of our original piles of rock, making this hitch worthy of the award “Tiniest Hitch, Largest Impact”!
At this point, walking through the site looks quite different than it did after those original monsoon storms. Although things are looking great at the moment, we’ll continue to monitor how this place shifts and changes as rain continues to mold the basins. We’ll be ready to address new problems as they come up, and we’ll be excited to see our friendly neighbors on the trail!
