Stories from Tumamoc

In addition to the research done on Tumamoc Hill, this place has a profound meaning to many of the people that frequent its slopes. You may very likely have a connection to this mountain that you regard as special. It was the site of your first date, your first rattlesnake, a walking routine that helped nurse an injury, a hard time, or a site where you come to watch the sunrise or set. These experiences make Tumamoc an integral part of our community.

The different views of Tumamoc Hill are made richer with the perspective of those that have been here the longest. The producers of the Tumamoc Tour met with a group of Tohono O’odham elders and educators. They talked about their ancestral connection to Tumamoc, and how they see this relationship as a connection to the land and the desert, and its plants.

Listen to the Introduction .mp3 file, or visit the Section Highlights for more information.

Audio file

 

This is just a glimpse into another way of seeing and interpreting the landscape around us, a perspective developed over the millennia.


Section Highlights

Each section highlight features a video about that topic.

Spalding Plots

The Spalding Plots: Mapping 100 years of vegetation change

Buildings

The Desert Laboratory Buildings

Ants and Barrel Cactus

An intimate relationship between a giant cactus and a tiny ant hiding in plain sight.

Saguaros

How Old is that Saguaro?

Rattlesnakes

The three rattlesnakes of Tumamoc

Nurse Plants

The Nurse Plant Effect

Deer

A Tumamoc Mule Deer’s First Year

Matched Photos

A century of change

Sonoran Strange

Spoken word poets Logan Phillips and Adam Cooper Terán walk through a series of questions that and make us ponder the complexities that arise when the past and present collide.