Takes a comprehensive view of ironwood habitats in both the United States and Mexico, evaluating the ecological and cultural resources supported by the ancient ironwood tree. The study provides an overview of the history and ecology of desert ironwood, and a discussion of the binational research effort undertaken to produce the report.

Concern has been expressed that mesquite bosques are disappearing or diminishing in quality, and that the survival of the mesquite mouse is consequently threatened. This study, funded by a grant from the Arizona Heritage Fund to the Pima County Regional Flood Control District, investigated the current distribution of the mesquite mouse by reviewing historical records from museum specimens, examining existing potential habitat at historic locations of the species and elsewhere in the county, and conducting a live-trapping study at 19 sites representing a range of ecological communities with mesquite as a major component.

In February of 1998, the Pima County Board of Supervisors launched what has evolved into the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP) -- a comprehensive effort to protect the Sonoran Desert, guide growth and rationalize land development in the metropolitan Tucson region. Proponents of this planning process maintained that the project would reconcile conflicts between human activities and conservation, providing benefits for both wildlife and economic development. Critics, however, have increasingly alleged that implementing such an initiative will adversely affect land and housing markets, increase taxes and create problems of housing affordability. Over time a pressing need has consequently grown for objective information about the possible fiscal and economic impacts of the conservation programs being assembled by Pima County. This report addresses that need. It is a tool in the form of an impartial framework for assessment that government officials, environmentalists, business people and the general public can use for debate and decision-making.

This Technical Data notebook has been prepared for a Letter of Map Revision application for a portion of the Via Entrada Wash located in Pima County, Arizona. The objective of the TDN and LOMR submission is provide regulatory discharge rates and floodplain limits along the Via Entrada Wash using better topographic, hydrologic, and hydraulic data.