Beginning Sept. 5, the University of Arizona and Pima County are extending access hours to Tumamoc Hill from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.
To preserve the irreplaceable resources, cable fencing and gates will be installed at the top to mark the end of the walking pathway, and to restrict access beyond the paved road.
Tumamoc Hill used to be closed to the public in the middle of the day, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
A new mobile app, the Tumamoc Tour, soon will be available for both iOS and Android devices. The tour, tells the story of the Sonoran Desert through the lens of Tumamoc Hill.
Tumamoc hosted human inhabitants more than 2,500 years ago when indigenous people developed a village at the top of the hill. Nearly 500 years later, the Hohokam settled the area and farmed the land at the base of the hill. The Tohono O'odham are the descendants of the people who used to reside on the hill, according to a media release from the UA.
Tumamoc became the site of the longest continuously studied ecological plots in the world, with research on the saguaro cactus beginning in 1903 under the direction of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C.
The UA officially purchased Tumamoc in 1956, focusing on research, education, and preservation.
Tumamoc is an 860-acre ecological reserve, and U.S. National Historic Landmark owned and operated by the University of Arizona in partnership with Pima County.
