Watercolour looking out across Tanque Verde Valley from a ridge, saguaros and ocotillo in the foreground, houses scattered among the desert below and the Rincon Mountains beyond.

Welcome to the Habitat

Tanque Verde Habitat Hosts — Together we make a refuge

Tanque Verde Habitat Hosts

Encouraging homeowners to conserve, protect, and regenerate the native Sonoran desert on their property.

Tanque Verde Habitat Host sign on a single post, painted with a saguaro, a hummingbird flying right, desert foliage and rocks. Become a Habitat Host

We live within an ancient ecology.

Tanque Verde Valley contains some of the most intact Sonoran Desert still remaining within a major metropolitan area.

A crested bird perched on the tip of a saguaro arm, silhouetted against low cloud banked along the mountains behind.
Northern CardinalPhotograph courtesy of Brian Oveson

The plants, animals, and insects on your property are all part of this unique and ancient ecosystem, working together in complex relationships that allow this desert region to thrive.

Tanque Verde Valley is especially biodiverse and densely vegetated due to a unique microclimate that provides a few extra inches of rain and slightly cooler temperatures. Due to neighboring ranges and mountains, this valley gets an unusual amount of rainfall. Its unique topography channels rain and snowmelt from the surrounding altitudes into an extensive watershed. Its rich riparian vegetation and numerous washes double as wildlife corridors, connecting the Rincon Mountains, Agua Caliente Hill, Milagrosa Canyon and the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Because of its wealth of vegetation, habitat, and water, Tanque Verde Valley has a unique history. Tanque Verde cattle ranch was first established in 1868 and was active for over 100 years. As it was sectioned off and developed, it became a suburb of Tucson primarily for single residence housing and small acreages. Most of the original developers who purchased this land aimed to preserve the desert scenery, and unlike in much of Tucson, they often built homes with fully intact desert surroundings. Tanque Verde was intentionally developed and designed around the natural beauty and privacy of the desert wilderness.

This community exists within a living ecosystem. If we can understand how this ecosystem functions, we can help conserve, encourage, and celebrate the natural beauty that is unique to our neighborhood.

A wide view from high on Agua Caliente Hill: saguaros and cholla in the foreground, the valley spreading out below, distant ranges on the horizon under a sky of broken cloud.
Tanque Verde Valley from Agua Caliente Hill.Photograph courtesy of Rosanna Marmont

An Ancient Living Landscape

The Sonoran Desert has existed in Southern Arizona for 10,000 years. Desert plants have evolved with highly sophisticated adaptations to withstand some of the most extreme conditions on earth.

Desert plant communities take centuries to develop. The Sonoran Desert is like an old-growth forest. What can appear chaotic is a complex organized living system built slowly over generations. The region’s biodiversity depends on the layered structure of the desert. Any layer removed compromises the whole.

Desert Layers

When these layers remain intact, the desert functions as a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Saguaros growing up through the canopy of a large mesquite, with prickly pear spreading at their base.
A mesquite tree is a favorite nurse plant for saguaros which access its tap root for water.Photograph courtesy of Brian Oveson

Pioneer Plants

A hillside of Brittlebush in full yellow bloom catching low sun, prickly pear among it, with the mountains rising behind.

Pioneer plants can withstand direct sun and harsh conditions. Because of this they can recolonize cleared or damaged areas of desert and help other natives regenerate, acting as nurse plants or companion plants for more sensitive species. Pioneer plants are often the most targeted species for selective clearing because they appear to be dead brush during dormant periods (between rainy seasons). Their removal compromises the health of all other vegetation.

Pioneer plants:

Pioneer plants are the first step in the natural regeneration system of the Sonoran Desert. Removing them eliminates a critical component of the ecosystem. Allowing or even encouraging them is the best way to restore the overall health of desert vegetation. If you see a newly sprouted plant on your cleared land, identify it before acting. If it is a pioneer plant, your property is attempting to restore itself.

Brittlebush in full yellow flower spreading among prickly pear and saguaros, with the mountains behind.
Example of a healthy Sonoran Desertscrub.Photograph courtesy of Rosanna Marmont

Closing Message

The desert landscape and vegetation within Tanque Verde is highly unique to our area. It is a living ecosystem built over centuries…like an old growth forest. Once it is harmed, this system cannot easily regenerate.

Protecting intact desert vegetation and encouraging regrowth helps preserve wildlife habitat, native biodiversity, soil stability, and the natural beauty that defines our community.

Thank you for celebrating our unique area.

A seedling with broad heart-shaped leaves pushing up through gravel and leaf litter, a feathery palo verde seedling beside it.
Limberbush and Foothills Palo Verde volunteers on private property near Agua Caliente Park.Photograph courtesy of Rosanna Marmont