Home > The Learning Center > Your Living Lab and Learning Center

Your Living Lab and Learning Center

From water harvesting to lush food forests, the Living Lab is your community educational resource for regenerative desert living.

Visitors of all ages are invited to explore sustainability practices in action through our interactive exhibits and demonstrations in the heart of Tucson. As the headquarters of WMG, the Living Lab also houses our staff working on programs that span Tucson, Mexico, and the Southwest. We are proud to “walk the talk” each day as the 2016 winner of Arizona's Greenest Workplace challenge. Come join us in drinking our rainwater, using the composting toilets, harvesting fresh snacks from the food forest, enjoying native gardens, and biking or busing to the Living Lab.

Come visit us for a tour or class at your Living Lab.We're proud of the Living Lab's rich history and how it's always evolving.

Access WMG's Living Lab and Learning Center Data Portal for weather data, rainwater supply and demand, and moreSee what's new at your Living Lab and Learning Center - it's growing, changing, and developing all the time!

Living Lab & Learning Center News

a promotional flyer for the WMG event Beavers and Brews 2024
  6th Annual Beavers & Brews Tuesday, Sept 24th, 2024 | 5:30pm to 8:30pm At the Living Lab | 1137 North Dodge Blvd. Calling all beaver believers new and old! Join us at this year’s Beavers and Brews immersive experience. Gather at the Living Lab to eat, drink, dive into river restoration, and learn about the latest beaver projects. Our Learning Center will be transformed into a riparian habitat, with the sights and sounds of Mattie Canyon and Cienega Creek, showcasing...
two girls learning about compost and soil at the Living Lab
Next Family Saturday | Próximo Sábado Familiar: Compost Day| Día de Compostaje Aug 17, 2024 | 8:00am-11:00am  Bring the kids to Family Saturday at the Living Lab to learn about composting! We'll read stories, tour the composting toilets, learn how composting turns kitchen scraps into food for the garden, and get our hands in some soil! Our chickens play a big part, as do each of us when we use our composting toilets. We will also be singing songs and giving away our "Poo to Peaches"...
mesquite tree in bloom
  Native Edible Trees Project With a grant from Arizona State Forestry, Watershed Management Group is working on a Native Edible Tree project through the end of 2024 exploring  the use of native edible trees and plants in our region through education and events on urban foraging, cultivating, harvesting, and processing these foods. From learning how to identify and use native edibles at home and in our neighborhoods, using them to create our own food forests,  cultivating more native edible...
Family Saturday: What are native edible plants?  Gracie Kayko, Environmental Journalism Intern - June 24, 2024    On the third Saturday of the month, Family Saturday is held at Watershed Management Group’s Living Lab.  Family Saturday is a free, educational event that invites families to come learn about a variety of sustainability-focused topics around living respectfully with the resources in the Sonoran Desert. On May 18th, families came to learn about native edible plants. ...
a picture of the front gate of the wmg living lab and learning center in tucson az
  June Slow Down: Summer Siesta at the Living Lab In June, the Living Lab & Learning Center will be mostly closed as we take a well-deserved summer siesta. While we’ll have fewer classes and limited access during this month, it's the perfect time for us to recharge and prepare for an exciting lineup of events starting in July. What to Expect: Limited Access: The Living Lab will have reduced hours, so please check our schedule before planning a visit....