Dear neighbors,

On behalf of Living Streets Alliance, thank you very much for participating in the Rincon Heights Neighborhood Walking Assessment and helping us collect data on Saturday. I hope you had a good time and discovered a few new things about our neighborhood streets.

A few of you have some additional assessment forms that you decided to complete in your own time. If possible, I would like to have those back by Sunday, April 21. I would be happy to meet with you somewhere in the neighborhood or stop by at your house whenever it is convenient for you. So, please email me back and let me know when would be a good time. Alternatively, you can scan and email the forms to me.

Once we have collected all the completed assessment forms we will compile them in a database and make it available to the participants. Additionally, we will create a Google Map with all the information we received during the Walking Workshop that took place on April 3. This map will also be available to the neighborhood as a dynamic tool that can be edited and updated in the future. We are hoping to present the findings of the Walking Assessment at a neighborhood meeting in the fall and create a "Rincon Heights Walking Map" that shows the destinations in and around the neighborhood. We will keep you posted about these next steps. 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and consider pledging your support for a walkable Tucson here: http://www.livingstreetsalliance.org/our-work/campaigns/i-want-to-walk/

All the best,
Evren 

Hi Fellow Gardeners,
 
Prof. Hazel Cox and her Water Harvesting class were on site today working on the east side of the fence. they are starting a series of water harvesting basins that will slow down the flow of water from the alley into our garden and conduct some overflow to 8th Street. They will be on site tomorrow as well, working in the area by the greenhouses' parking lot.
 
The class has stowed their wheelbarrow and tools by the hay bales. Please do not use these tools as we don't want them to become mixed up with our own.
 
I will be at the garden at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Will anyone join me, either for working alongside the students on water harvesting or for moving soil into the Her/bPollinator garden? I know this is late notice but I would enjoy your company and appreciate your help!
 
Melody

Hello neighbors,

My name is Kara Welch and I'm a student in the neighborhood studying entomology (insect science) at the University of Arizona. I've been collaborating this semester with the National Phenology Network (NPN) to create a 'phenology trail' in the neighborhood. What is phenology? It is the study of life cycle stages in plants and animals. Our phenology trail showcases 10 plants in association with 10 insects that can be observed in the neighborhood and data concerning these specimens can be recorded via an app and online at the NPN website. The study of this information can be used for things like climate change modelling in the future but in the present it is a venue for promoting scientific/observational skills in the public and engagement in outdoor activities.

On April 20th the NPN is hosting an outreach event to promote citizen science throughout Tucson to observe phenological events and create standardized long term data sets about the subject in the region. This event will highlight the numerous trails around the city at large and serve as the 'unveiling' of the Rincon Heights Phenology Trail and will teach the neighborhood about how to use the trail and its function. The tour of our neighborhood and the Sam Hughes trail will be at 1 pm.

I've worked on this trail in connection with a class project and I have used my expertise in insect science to closely and uniquely associate our trail with insects and insect behavior. Fact sheets about these interactions will be provided on phenology day. I've attached a flyer that I will be handing out in the neighborhood to this email as well as a draft press release for the Arizona Daily Star about the day itself. Please contact me with questions, comments, or concerns atklwelch@email.arizona.edu

I hope you can come out!
Kara Welch