Mountain Retreat and Scientific Facility

Sunday and Monday, March 26 -27, 2017

Yesterday Ron and I took a drive out to the foothills of the Catalina Mountains here in Tucson to see Sabino Canyon.  In the 1870’s Pony soldiers from Fort Lowell enjoyed horseback riding excursions to the watering hole that is still in use today.  In the 1930’s CCC workers built one way bridges and a dirt road along the 3.8 mile area.  Today the road is a two lane paved asphalt road that climbs up the mountain with trails and picnic areas along the way as well as a shuttle that will take you up and down the road from the Visitor Center. 

When I was a student here at the University of Arizona in the 1960’s, Sabino Canyon was a popular spot for students to spend warm weekend afternoons beside the creek and the one beach area where you can actually swim.  It was very rustic and private spots could be found all along the way.

It is Sunday and the Canyon is very busy with students and families who have brought their children for a walk up the road, a hike or a trip on the shuttle to the top or stops along the way.  We elect to just ride the shuttle up and down, take pictures and enjoy the ride.  Our shuttle driver is very informative about the area, flora and fauna.  It is surprising to learn there was a major flood here in 2006 which damaged trees and brought rock and debris down to the floor of the canyon.  We do not think of flooding (especially at the level it was here) since rain is quite limited in desert environments though it can flood roads when the spring or summer downpours happen.  The creek today was fuller than I remember it being when I was a student. 

Today we drove to the Biosphere 2 located about 30 miles north and behind the Santa Catalina Mountains.  The facility was built in the 1980’s by a private organization and funded by a multimillionaire from Phoenix in the hopes that much could be learned about how natural environments generate conditions appropriate for life.  Eight individuals lived and worked in the environment for two years. 

Several organizations have owned the property over the years since then using it for various scientific purposes.  In 2007 the University of Arizona was gifted the property and currently runs many scientific projects, conducts workshops and conferences under the College of Science at the University.   

The glass enclosed facilities are on 3.14 acres, have 6,500 windows, 91 feet at their tallest point, and thousands of miles of wiring, pipes, and duck work.  The 40 acre campus includes 300,000 square feet of admin. offices, classrooms, laboratories, conferences facilities and residential and student housing. 

After entering the Visitor Center and paying for a tour, we proceeded down a concrete path through the lodging area built for visiting students, scientists, etc. and finally down a stairway to meet our tour guide in what was originally the Upper Habitat area for the sealed human missions of the 1990’s.  Our hour and one half tour included watching a video in the Lower Habitat before walking though the Rain Forest with over 90 different plant species, some more than 60 feet tall;

lemon tree

Coffee Bean Plant

Rain forest

Desert Evironment

  the Water and Life Experiments section which focuses on the birth of soil and the interactions among water, rock, energy and life;

Looking through the windows

and the two domes structures with variable air-volume control devices.
 

There is also the Energy Center and the B2 Ocean facilities which we did not tour. 

An interesting tour.  Ron’s question to me before the tour was, where was Biosphere 1 since this is Biosphere2.  The answer provided in the tour was, we live in Biosphere 1 – the Earth. 

The past two days have been warm (high 70’s) with breezes and have made our outdoor adventures very pleasant.