The University of Arizona, El Paso Natural Gas Co. and the city of Tucson on Friday marked their agreement to minimize the environmental impact of gas pipeline testing on the century-old Tumamoc Ecological Reservation.
A brief ceremony was held at one of the four test spots to inaugurate the project and to mark the cooperation of government, the private sector and academia in working together on behalf of conservation and business.
"This is an example of reconciliation ecology. Reconciliation ecology means human enterprise and conservation science cooperate and the two of them prosper together," said Michael L. Rosenzweig, director of Tumamoc: People and Habitats, the name given to the UA's projects on the hill.
Rosenzweig is the UA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who coined the term "reconciliation ecology." Tumamoc: People and Habitats includes The Alliance for Reconciliation Ecology and the UA's historic Desert Laboratory.
U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva gave the keynote address at the ceremony. Other speakers were Rosenzweig; UA President Robert N. Shelton; Loren Locher, the regional director of government affairs for El Paso Western Pipes; and Tucson City Councilwoman Regina Romero.
“I am pleased that this agreement was reached and that the concerns of the pipeline were given full consideration of both the UA and residents alike," Grijalva said.
Romero added, "Tumamoc is a natural resource asset to our community, and I value the partnership with the UA and city residents. I will do everything I can to protect it for the future."
A unique combination of ecology and culture, Tumamoc is an 870-acre ecological reservation in the heart of Tucson. Its innovative, sustained, long-term environmental studies have made it a U.S. National Historical Landmark. A 2,500-year-old ruined village sits atop Tumamoc Hill, and the rich cultural context of two millennia of human society lie at its feet.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires El Paso Natural Gas Co. to examine its natural gas pipeline that runs under the Tumamoc Ecological Reservation. Digging up the 1,800 feet of gas pipeline for testing could mean permanent destruction of dozens of the Desert Laboratory's ecological study plots, which have been studied continually for almost two decades.
The UA, the city of Tucson and the gas company decided not to allow any such destruction. Representatives of those entities met to figure out how to minimize environmental impact while complying with federal regulations. The group identified four 5-foot-long segments of the pipeline for testing. Special, small track hoes will be used to avoid environmental damage. The four segments will be unearthed in September to provide all the data needed for the tests.
Beginning in 1903, Tumamoc's Desert Laboratory gave birth to the sciences of physiological ecology and arid land studies. Its permanent study plots include nine that date from 1905, making them the world's oldest. The Desert Laboratory is also the world's first and oldest restoration ecology project, dating back to 1906. The laboratory began by studying the re-establishment of natural conditions in its reservation. Today it tracks and models dozens of plant species, and the record of their lives provides a super-sensitive biological monitor of climate change.
The Alliance for Reconciliation Ecology develops the science and social capital that will build a future as green as the past. Tumamoc's research such as the Tucson Bird Count, the world's leading urban bird census, is learning how to engineer human landscapes in which people and their everyday activities coexist with diverse wild species.
"Tumamoc: People and Habitats uses the historic ecological record from a century of research to solve ecological challenges for our society today and bring people new habitats that immerse them in nature," Rosenzweig said. "We will be a model for the entire planet."
Michael L. Rosenzweig
520-621-7296
Mari N. Jensen, UA
520-626-9635
Robert Newberry, El Paso Natural Gas
