The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has opened a new research facility in Tucson, Arizona, focused on water movement, soil erosion and agricultural resource management in the semiarid Southwest.

The 15,650-square-foot Southwest Watershed Research Center includes laboratories, collaborative workspaces and research infrastructure for ARS and University of Arizona researchers. The facility will support studies aimed at developing tools to help farmers and ranchers manage water and soil resources.

Research will include field studies at the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed and Santa Rita Experimental Range. Scientists use rainfall simulators, drought studies and remote sensing technologies, including drones, to measure runoff and erosion, assess plant responses to limited water and investigate how water moves through landscapes.

The center traces its origins to 1951, when the Southwest Watershed Studies Group was established to address soil erosion and natural resource concerns. Researchers selected Walnut Gulch as an outdoor laboratory in 1953. Today, the experimental watershed is described by USDA as the world’s most densely instrumented long-term semiarid watershed.

The new facility is intended to strengthen research into water conservation, soil protection and agricultural productivity across the American Southwest.