Tucson Action Bulletin: Celebrate May weekends with the Co-op!

Celebrate the flow with us!—looking back at Tanque Verde Flow and Feast

As spring makes its slow transition into summer, we finally have a minute to look back on the flurry of fun and excitement in April. And Tanque Verde Flow and Feast is certainly a highlight!

On April 2nd, we celebrated our love of flowing desert rivers with a fun and inspiring community event at Tanque Verde Creek. About 200 WMG supporters, Co-op members, and friends joined us for an evening of good food, drinks, poetry, and campfire fun. This event highlighted our 50 Year Program which aims to restore flow to Tucson's rivers—and offered a chance to gather our extraordinary community together. Cheers to everyone who came out! We've created an online gallery of our favorite photos from the event. Check it out!

All photos courtesy of Nicci Radhe

Co-op workshop: Rain gardens and curb cuts

Saturday, May 7, 2016
8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Near Tucson Blvd and Ft. Lowell Rd

Help prepare this central Tucson home to harvest the plentiful monsoon rains from the roof and street. You will help install frontyard rain gardens to support pollinator-friendly plants and shade trees and prepare streetside rain gardens to capture runoff through curb cuts. These two systems create an integrated approach to water harvesting and water conservation that is crucial to the regeneration of our Sonoran Desert ecosystem.

So come learn, engage, and contribute to this rainwater-harvesting transformation. Project manager Joaquin Murrieta-Saldivar will lead the way. Sign up online for this workshop. Muchas gracias and see you there!

Co-op workshop: Rain gardens 

Saturday, May 14, 2016
7:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Near 22nd St and Swan Rd

As summer heats up, help us keep Tucson cool with another rainwater-harvesting transformation. Lend a hand to rock out a series of cascading basins at this midtown home. Through sculpting the earth, mulching basins, and planting vegetation you will help us capture the cooling monsoon rains and establish shade trees and plants. WMG's own ISA Certified Arborist Emma Stahl-Wert will lead this work party and share her Sonoran landscape expertise. Sign up online for this workshop and come labor with your neighbor!

Co-op workshop: Rain tanks 

Saturday, May 28, 2016
7:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Near Silverbell and St Mary's Rd

Every landscape has a story, and you can help us complete the sustainability story of this historic Barrio Hollywood home. We'll be installing a pair of 2,825 gallon rain tanks at this retrofitted home with solar panels and a vegetable garden. In this tale of two tanks, you'll help plumb the tanks and direct overflow into a catchment basin planted with native vegetation to cool the landscape.

Come hone your skills in tank plumbing, basin shaping, and planting. Project Manager and ISA Certified Arborist Emma Stahl-Wert will lead this work party and share her rainwater-harvesting expertise. Sign up online for this workshop

Upcoming offerings for you at the Living Lab

Watershed Management Group's central Tucson headquarters, located at 1137 N Dodge Blvd, is here to serve you. We offer free classes to help you qualify for Tucson Water rebates, outdoor yoga with a certified instructor on our beautiful garden plaza, monthly tours to introduce everyone to this extraordinary living laboratory for sustainable living—and more! Here's what we have on offer for you in the coming weeks:

Living Lab first Friday work days
beginning Friday, May 6, 2016
7:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Email Sarah Brown with questions and to RSVP

All summer long you can earn Co-op credit hours when you join us on the first Friday of each month for a work day to keep the Living Lab looking and functioning at its best. Projects include: clean-up and maintenance, food forest care, basic construction, and other odds and ends.

Free tour of the Living Lab and Learning Center
Saturday, May 14, 2016
9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Learn more and register online

Come explore our cream-of-the-crop demonstration site that beats the pants off LEED standards. By the time you leave this free tour, you'll be overflowing with project ideas for your home. Executive Director Lisa Shipek will be your guide.

Free "Home Greywater Made Easy" Tucson Water Rebate Class
Thursday, May 19, 2016
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Register online for the greywater class

We'll introduce you to all the potential uses for greywater in your landscape and satisfy your Tucson Water Gray Water Rebate educational requirement—the first step to getting up to $1,000 back on your greywater system. Learn more about the rebates and see a schedule of upcoming classes.

Free Tucson Water Rainwater Harvesting Rebate Class
Thursday, May 26, 2016
3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Register online for the rainwater class

You can make your rainwater-harvesting projects more affordable with Tucson Water rebates of up to $2,000 for qualifying systems. We offer these required educational sessions free of charge as a service to the community. Learn more about the rebates and see a schedule of upcoming classes.

Yoga Flow on the plaza
Stay tuned for the May/June schedule.