Graffiti cleanup, buffelgrass removal, path work are part of initial phase of project
Mariana Salazar, Mario Teran, both 21, and their sons Mario Teran, 3, (third from left) and Mauricio Teran, 2, enjoy walking the trails on "A" Mountain once or twice a week. They say they would come to the area more often if the trails were nicer and not as rough to walk on.
Trail work will start on “A” Mountain as soon as the city gives its archaeological clearance in the next couple weeks.
Initial work on improvements to the mountain will have high school students remove buffelgrass and graffiti and build a dirt trail from the base of the A to the parking lot. The main project in the summer will bring a paved path from the A to the parking lot along with interpretive displays and safety improvements, said Diana Rhoades, an aide to Councilwoman Regina Romero.
The “A” Mountain project at Sentinel Peak Park comes after two open houses in the past six months gauging support for adding visitor improvements to the popular day-trip locale.
“The process of input from the community has come from all the neighborhoods living around ‘A’ Mountain and people in the community who care about ‘A’ Mountain,” Romero said.
The city will use $130,000 available from the sale of Juhan Park near Grant and Silverbell roads.
A $30,000 Community Development Block Grant will pay 12 students who live in Romero’s ward and attend Project MORE High School. They will get $7.25 per hour to do the initial buffelgrass, graffiti and trail work, Rhoades said.
The students will work through the Southwest Conservation Corps, which is using the project as its first urban program. The group otherwise sends people age 16 to 25 on overnight conservation and trail crew work on national forest and parks lands, executive director Kamillia Hoban said.
The start date and trail route await an archaeological survey because the mountain contains numerous artifacts, said Jonathan Mabry, the city’s historic preservation officer.
“It’s all doable,” Mabry said. “They might have to tweak the trail design.”
Hoban hopes to send the corps’ workers to ‘A’ Mountain on March 30 and wrap up their part of the project by May 8.
Building the 1,000-foot paved path that meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards may start in early June with the intention to have it finished in late summer, said Howard Dutt, landscape engineer for the Tucson Parks & Recreation Department.
That phase will include one or two overlooks with interpretive signage and a barrier to separate cars from pedestrians along the stone wall at the edge of the road.
