World’s oldest lab owned, operated by UA

TUCSON — Next time you find yourself on a hike through the desert, you will probably spot a few plants and trees that are studied in the oldest desert laboratory in the world. Located in west Tucson and to the north of “A” Mountain, Tumamoc Hill is home of University of Arizona's historic Desert Laboratory. The long history behind the Desert Laboratory dates back to 1903, when it was founded by the Carnegie Institution as the world's first restoration ecology project. Since then, Tumamoc Hill has flourished as a place to study desert ecology and to better understand how plants adapt to arid desert environments.