Pilot Bruce Gordon steered a small Cessna plane over a portion of the 200-mile Santa Cruz River on Tuesday morning, offering glimpses of the riparian corridor and miles of its dry, sandy bed.
Considered one of the most endangered rivers in the United States, the Santa Cruz River stretches from Eastern Santa Cruz County and into Sonora, before returning north along the Interstate 19 corridor and ending northwest of Tucson.
Tuesday’s flyover with the environmental nonprofit EcoFlight explored a stretch of the river that could soon become Arizona’s first Urban National Wildlife Refuge.