Prosopis glandulosa mesquite seeds. including rodents, jackrabbits and quail, dine on stored through the winter. Many other dwellers, meal (“pinole”). Pods harvested in the fall could be nutritious syrup, and mature pods were ground into minerals, green pods were boiled to produce a peoples of the Southwest. Rich in protein, and Mesquites were an important food source for native curved mottled seed pods. , and the long (5-6 inch), straight to slightly recognized by the larger leaflets of their compound screwbean mesquites, honey mesquites can be Not as common at the Rio Bosque their cousins – the Pea Family Honey Mesquite tornillo-honey mesquite associations. stands will gradually be taken out and converted to vegetation is re-established at the park, saltcedar Yellow-breasted Chats and Painted Buntings. As native valuable nesting habitat for birds like Harris’s Hawks, stands were allowed to remain because they provide in 1997, much saltcedar was removed. Some mature the wetland cells at Rio Bosque were constructed pink in spring, and grow to 25 feet high. When Saltcedars have dark green, feathery leaves, white to to remove once established. these out-compete native species and are difficult areas by exotic saltcedars. Growing in dense stands, have highly favored the invasion of former riparian changed historic flooding regimes, new conditions In many southwestern river systems where dams have Tamarisk Saltcedar Tamaricaceae – the Tamarisk Family

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branch with seed pods Below: Saltcedar branch Above: Honey Mesquite

dispersal strategy. on a new host – very successful bird’s droppings gut and are deposited with its berries. The seeds pass unharmed through a Phainopeplas, for example, relish mistletoe an important food source for many animals. Christmastime festivities, mistletoe serves as food and water. Besides adding greenery to parasitic that taps into its host to extract winter. That’s mistletoe ( bare branches during the of green in otherwise or mesquite, a patch canopy of a cottonwood looking leaves in the clump of different- You may notice a Mistletoes Phoradendron

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), a

Educational programs of the Forest Service are disability, religion, age, or national origin. open to all people without regard race, color, sex, www.cerm.utep.edu/riobosque/ call Find out how you can participate: community involvement for success. The Rio Bosque project relies on Friends of the Rio Bosque, El Paso, TX. ©2004 by the Epson El Paso. Printing generously provided by Illustration by David Nakabayashi Edited by John Sproul Text by Maria A. Trunk administered by the Texas Forest S a USDA Urban Forestry Grant by Brochure Series was made possible The Rio Bosque Educational found in our river valley. of the unique and valuable ecosystems once working to bring back meaningful examples in a new way. Here, is a diverse partnership Park, the environment is still changing, but are virtually gone. At Rio Bosque Wetlands productive natural habitats, but today they Norte region. They were the area’s most the banks of Rio Grande in Paso del Wetlands and riverside forests once graced with mature seed pods Cover: Tornillo branch Tornillo bloom and Below: Different stages of initial seed formation 915-747-8663 or visit ervice.

El Paso, Texas Park Wetlands Rio Bosque TREES of the Rio Bosque

Edgar Alexander Mearns, member of the United States-Mexican in 1907. International Boundary Survey team, describing the El Paso Valley or screwbean and mesquite.” arrowwood, flanked by the tornillo occupied by dense patches of river…. The river flats are mark the shifting courses of the “Lines of cottonwood and

themselves. big enough to fend for little extra protection until they’re , so we give the a shoots of cottonwoods and love to eat the bark and trees. These large rodents beaver from killing the to discourage the park’s Cages have been installed encircling their trunks. Rio Bosque have metal cages Many cottonwoods and Goodding willows at the Why are those trees in cages?

Branch of a Rio Grande Cottonwood

the apex. them by their large triangular leaves sharply pointed at of the park’s main water channel. You can recognize and many smaller plantings are located along the sides are found on the park’s eastern and southern borders, feet in height. Currently, a few mature cottonwoods the largest trees at the Rio Bosque, reaching up to 80 As habitat restoration progresses, cottonwoods will be cottonwoods, so very few are found in the valley today. unfavorable to the establishment and survival of Grande’s natural flow has created conditions highly plentiful water supply. Human manipulation of the Rio Throughout their life, cottonwoods require a stable, fast as ½ inch per day! receding water table – cottonwood roots can grow as germinated and quickly grew roots to follow the millions of cottony seeds. Those that landed on damp mountain snows flooded the river, the trees released insects, mammals and birds. Every spring as melting banks with thick foliage and hosting a diversity of Cottonwoods once lined the Rio Grande, shading its – the Willow Family Populus deltoides subsp. wislizenii Rio Grande Cottonwood

banks of the wetland cells. find both along the edges of main channel and their narrow leaves generally point upward. You’ll downward. willows grow more -like and typical tree; their slightly broader leaves hang distinguished. Goodding willows take the form of a The two kinds of willow at the Rio Bosque are easily and the wood for fence posts, shelters firewood. willow shoots and bark to make baskets fish traps, branches. Native Americans and early settlers used growth of saplings; beavers built dams with the Wildlife and livestock ate the bark, seedlings new Willow cottonwoods’ requirements for abundant water. Salix exigua Willows also graced the river banks and shared Salicaceae – the Willow Family Coyote Salix gooddingii Willow Goodding

Prosopis pubescens Below: Coyote Willow leaves sections of the Rio Bosque. high and 30 feet wide, tornillos are found in the upland saplings to spreading mature trees reaching 20 feet in the shade of a tornillo. From small shrub-like and many animals like jackrabbits quail find cover from the branches. Insects and rodents eat seeds, Wasps hang their nests and spiders string webs Mockingbirds use the trees for perching and nesting. like Verdins, Black-chinned Hummingbirds and tornillos provide excellent habitat for wildlife. Birds The foliage, dense thorns and nutritious pods of 2-3 inches long. green “screws” that mature to hard brown seed pods dangling columns of yellow flowers give rise to tiny for “screw”) its name. In late spring and early summer, Its tightly coiled seed pod gives the tornillo (Spanish Fabaceae – the Pea Family Screwbean Mesquite / Tornillo Left: Goodding Willow leaves