The soil ledges give bullrush and other emergent vegetation a foothold above the clay, and the sand-filled ledges provide fish with a spawning area. Measuring from 20 to 30 feet long and 4 to 5 feet wide, the ledges range from 6 inches to 15 inches in depth when the pond is full. A shallow ledge at the pond's inlet replicates stream riffles. Pond water has been kept at the full level for 18 months. As was expected, the pond has become an avian hotspot.
Fish are also in the restoration plans.
The park's ponds will be stocked with seven species of fish native to Arizona, including the endangered Gila topminnow and desert pupfish. A recipient of the Arizona Governor's Environmental Education Award, Discovery Park is a nonprofit educational facility with hiking trails, picnic sites, and a narrow gauge railroad. Prior to settlement, the Drift was a landscape characterized by native prairie grasslands dotted with tens of thousands of wetland basins created by receding glaciers some 10,000 years ago. This landscape was ideal for breeding waterfowl. The vast expanses of grassland, which supported a much different predator community focused on larger-sized prey, provided unlimited and relatively safe nesting areas for grassland birds.