Brawley Wash Watershed Plan

Desertification of the desert. Can humans undo what they have done?

Location: Avra Valley, Arizona 

Year Complete: In Design 

Project Lead: Stantec Engineering

Client: Pima County Regional Flood Control District

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has entered into an agreement with the District to prepare a PL-566 watershed plan for the Brawley Wash Watershed (198,000-acre project area) in Pima County, Arizona. Project goals are to provide erosion protection, reduce flooding, restore denuded abandoned farmland for wildlife habitat, and improve groundwater recharge for agricultural water management.

Wilder is focused on landscape restoration, invasive species, and scenic / visual resources.

View to northeast of Tucson Mountains and Saguaro National Park West. The desert is not supposed to look like this.

Dead cholla forms very small dam that collects sediment, water and seeds. A tiny template for how to heal this land.

Abundant rodent holes under native mesquite (Prosopis velutina). Tilling by rodents extremely beneficial for this compacted landscape.

White-lined sphinx moths in feeding frenzy on spiderling (Boerhavia spicata) during the monsoon where water has a chance to collect and infiltrate