Learning resources for students, teachers and community members

The Santa Cruz River headwaters are in the San Rafael Valley, near Patagonia, AZ. The river flows south into Mexico, turns westward, and flows north back into the United States east of Nogales, AZ. The Santa Cruz River then continues north through Tohono O'odham Nation and turns northwest through Tucson into Marana.

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History of the Santa Cruz

Generations of Tucsonans have grown up thinking the Santa Cruz River is a dry wash. But prior to the early 1900’s, several parts of the river flowed year-round, and that water was used sustainably for agricultural by the O’odham and their ancestors for thousands of years. However, the growing population of Tucson used up all the river’s water in 1913. This overuse of water destroyed the river’s ecosystem and caused all aquatic species to go locally extinct. And then, for most of the 20^th Century, the dry bed of the Santa Cruz was mined for sand and gravel, filled with trash, channelized, and ignored. Thankfully, the Santa Cruz has been reborn in recent years, and several parts of the river once again thrive with swimming fish, hopping toads, and dazzling  dragonflies.