Cooling Consultations

Book a Cooling Consultation

Book a consultation with a Watershed Management Group and we’ll help you create a plan to cool your yard 5 degrees or more with nature-based strategies!

Schedule Your Consultation

Your consult will include

  1. A one-hour in-person visit at your home with one of Watershed’s specialist: Joaquin Murrieta or Melanie Cooley.
  2. Analysis of the hot zones in your yard and around your home and gathering areas
  3. 3-5 priority strategies best suited to cool your home and yard with recommended classes and workshops to further your learning.
  4. An informational packet including our recommended contractors, native plants/nurseries, landscape care and much more.

Get solutions and strategies specific to your home through in-person time with Joaquin or Melanie. Our consultants have deep experience as teachers, implementers, and advisors—check out their bios below.

Cooling Consultants

All of our Cooling Consultants are certified Water Harvesting Design Professionals and have extensive experience in using passive rainwater harvesting basins and native vegetation to create abundant and cool outdoor spaces.

Melanie Cooley

Melanie has lived in Tucson since 1991. She's a second generation organic gardener & habitat restorer who has been using the power of water harvesting and native vegetation to create resilient and enchanting spaces for human and non-human dwellers alike at her home and elsewhere for the past decade. She consults in Midtown and on the West Side.

Joaquin Murrieta-Saldivar

Joaquin is a native of the Sonoran Desert and enjoys welcoming Nature into our built environments, he has transformed his house into a productive-abundant place full of plants, pollinators, birds, shade and a cooling environment. He will be happy to work with you to cool your place and elevate the beauty of your native landscapes. Joaquin consults in Midtown and on the East Side.

How it works

The cooling strategies will focus on creating cooling micro-climates, proven to cool an urban space 5 degrees or more. Strategies include:

  • Use the power of native shade trees, shrubs, and vines to cool your yard with plants adapted to high temperatures and seasonal rainfall that will minimize your water bill
  • Reduce hot walls of your home and cool gathering spaces with vines
  • Increase the moisture in your yard through water harvesting strategies, to increase evaporative cooling through your plants by capturing rainwater and stormwater and recycling greywater
  • Strategically reduce hot hardscapes, like patios and walls, through shading strategies and choosing cooling ground covers

Why use plants, instead of a shade structure?

Tucson temperatures have increased 7 degrees compared to historic averages, due to the heat island effect and climate change. Concrete and other man made materials absorb heat and release it once the sun goes down. A rain garden with mulched ground and plants creates spaces that are dramatically cooler. Plus, plant-based shade creates habitat for birds and other wildlife, and increases mental and physical well-being through quieter, more beautiful spaces.