Chapter 12, Huachuca Ecosystem Management

Sierra Vista RANGER DISTRICT www.skyislandaction.org 12- 1 State of the Coronado Forest DRAFT 11.05.08 DRAFT 11.05.08 State of the Coronado Forest 12-2 www.skyislandaction.org CHAPTER 12 Huachuca Ecosystem Management Area The Huachuca Ecosystem Management Area to Ramsey Canyon Preserve, managed by The Nature (EMA) encompasses the rugged southern portion of Conservancy, renowned for its outstanding scenic the Huachuca Mountains, and the rolling hills of the beauty and the diversity of its plant and animal life. Patagonia Mountains and Canelo Hills. The sprawling Approximately twelve miles east of the Forest 277,607 acre management area spans elevations boundary lies the San Pedro Riparian National ranging from 3,800 feet in the grasslands to 9,455 feet Conservation Area managed by the Bureau of Land at the summit of Miller peak. Management. The San Pedro River, flowing north The formerly rural area surrounding this through the conservation area, is one of the management area is experiencing rapid population outstanding biological gems of Arizona. The southern growth. Development from the outward growth of slopes of the Huachuca Mountains drain south to the nearby Sierra Vista is pushing up to the eastern base of headwaters of the San Pedro River (Figure 12.1). the Huachuca Mountains. The northeast side of area is The San Rafael Valley lies at the heart of the bordered by Fort Huachuca Military Reservation, Huachuca Management Area. The valley, primarily which encompasses much of the northern portion of consisting of privately-owned land, is a pocket of the Huachuca range. The southern EMA boundary rolling grasslands some of which still retain their runs along the U.S.-Mexico international border. natural composition of native grassland species. Coronado National Memorial, managed by the Patagonia Lake State Park, an impoundment on National Park Service, is nestled at the southeast Sonoita Creek along the western edge of the Patagonia corner of the EMA between the Forest land and the Mountains, is a popular recreation destination. Parker international boundary. The Huachuca EMA harbors Canyon Lake, also a popular recreation spot, is an a number of outstanding riparian habitats. Ramsey impoundment of Parker Canyon. Across the U.S.- Canyon on the eastern flank of the mountains is home Mexico border, lies Rancho Los Fresno in the state of www.skyislandaction.org 12- 3 State of the Coronado Forest DRAFT 11.05.08 Figure 12.1 Overview of the Huachuca EMA Sonora Mexico. Los Fresno is a 10,000 acre ranch smallest flycatchers occurring in the United States, is jointly managed by The Nature Conservancy, known to breed in the Santa Catalina, Huachuca and Naturalia and Biodiversidad y Desarrollo Armónica. Chiricahua Mountains. Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses, The Huachuca Ecosystem Management Area is an slender white orchids, are found in a handful of important destination to Forest users seeking a Cienega habitats in the Canelo Hills. Endangered wilderness experience. A 1997 study found that over Huachuca water umbel is found only in the Huachuca 70% of people surveyed came to the Huachucas Mountains and along the San Pedro River in the specifically to hike and engage in hiking associated United States, with a few scattered sites in Mexico. activities such as sightseeing, wildlife watching, bird The Huachuca Mountains harbor six perennial 1 watching and wilderness exploration. streams where several species of fish native to Arizona Natural History still survive in the well-watered canyons. Longfin dace For their size and elevational range, the Huachuca inhabit the watershed complex of Bear Creek, Lone Mountains are comparatively rich in species. Forest Mountain Canyon, Cave Creek, Joaquin Canyon and land here harbors nine listed Threatened or Sycamore Canyon that drains from the western side of Endangered species including the colorful Sonoran the Huachuca Mountains south to the headwaters of tiger salamander, and Huachuca water umbel. Besides the San Pedro River. Bear Creek and Cave Creek supporting much of the same biological diversity currently harbor populations believed to be free of found across the Sky Island region, the Huachuca nonnative fish. Red Rock Canyon in the Patagonia Management Area has its own unique and exciting Mountains provides habitat for Gila topminnow and species. The buff-breasted flycatcher, one of the other native fishes. These streams have exceptional DRAFT 11.05.08 State of the Coronado Forest 12-4 www.skyislandaction.org value for native fisheries and other riparian- southern Arizona by way of the upper Santa Cruz dependent species. The western barking frog, River, passing north across the San Rafael Valley and dependent on deeply-fissured limestone or rhyolite over the Canelo Hills via Canelo Pass into the upper outcrops, is known to breed in the southern Babocomari River valley.4 The Canelo Hills were later Huachucas on the Coronado National Memorial. traversed by Father Eusebio Kino in the 1690s during Mammal diversity and abundance of the area supports his explorations of southern Arizona. Coronado a large population of mountain lions. encountered ancestral Sobaipuris living in villages The Huachuca Mountains grassland valley along the San Pedro River. complex harbors isolated populations of species such The Sobaipuris probably colonized the San Rafael as Endangered Sonoran tiger salamander and Valley area starting in the 15th century and lived in Candidate (for listing) mountain tree frog, that are scattered rancherìas. They utilized the San Rafael found nowhere else in the Sky Island region. Valley and the surrounding Canelo Hills, and the Twenty-six populations of avian “species of Patagonia and Huachuca Mountains for hunting, conservation concern” can be found here. Some of gathering of agaves, yucca, acorns, walnuts, beargrass these populations are only found in the United States and other plants found in plains grasslands and in the borderland Sky Islands including Elegant evergreen woodlands. By the late 17th century when Trogon, Whiskered Screech Owl, and Buff-Breasted Kino and his companions first encountered them, the Flycatcher. Also found in the Huachucas are rare neo- Sobaipuris were already battling natives identified by 5 tropical species found only in the southern most sky Spaniards as Janos, Jocomes, and Apaches. Resident islands of the Coronado. These include Berylline Apaches managed to largely hold their own first Hummingbird, Blue-Throated Hummingbird, Violet- against Spanish, then Mexican, and later U.S. armed 6 Crowned Hummingbird, White-Eared Hummingbird, forces and settlers for the next 300 plus years. and Sulphur-Bellied Flycatcher. The Huachuca Boundaries of the Sky Island region coincide Mountain range supports the largest number of almost perfectly with the known range of the breeding pairs of Elegant Trogon and likely the largest Chiricahua Apaches, with Chokonen (or Chiricahua), population of Whiskered Screech Owl in the United Bedonkohe, Chihenne, and Nedhni groups occupying States. The Huachuca Mountains along with the various subdivisions of the region.7 Members of the Chiricahua Mountains host the greatest diversity of Chokonen band ranged across the Dragoons, Sierra Madrean neo-tropical birds in the United Chiricahuas, Dos Cabezas, Peloncillo and probably the States. The Huachucas support a great diversity of Huachuca mountains on both sides of the present hummingbirds with over fourteen species recorded in U.S.-Mexico border.8 The compressed latitudinal and the range. They are the site of ongoing hummingbird elevational gradients that characterize the Sky Island research such as mapping nectar resources. region and the area’s high productivity provided year- Particularly of note is their diversity of oaks with round hunting and gathering opportunities, which eleven distinct oak species found on the Management enabled the Chiricahua Apaches to remain the only Area.2 entirely non-agricultural culture in the American Human Prehistory and History Southwest during this era. The first solid archeological evidence of human The name Huachuca is a Chiricahua-Apache word habitation in this area shows Clovis hunters spearing meaning thunder. Canelo comes from the Spanish mammoths in the San Pedro Valley by 9,000 years word meaning cinnamon in reference to the color of B.C.3 Next came the long occupancy of the Cochise the Canelo Hills from a distance.9 Culture of hunter-gatherers, eventual introduction of At the turn of the century, Sunnyside Canyon in domesticated crop plants, and development of more the southeastern portion of the management area was densely settled networks of farming peoples. filled with the hustle and bustle of two copper mines Written history of the area around the San Rafael and a sawmill. The community of Sunnyside once Valley began with Coronado’s 1540 journey from boasted 80 residents. Today, this canyon’s intermittent Mexico City to the Zuni area of New Mexico. One stream supports a riparian community where proposed route has this epic journey entering songbirds and other wildlife are abundant. www.skyislandaction.org 12- 5 State of the Coronado Forest DRAFT 11.05.08 Elements of Biological Diversity and Cultural Heritage The Huachuca Ecosystem Management Area species of plants and animals including nine harbors a unique combination of vegetation types and Threatened or Endangered species, along with other species that contribute to the biological diversity of species determined to be Species of Concern or the Coronado National Forest. The Forest

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