Desert Galleries, and the giants within...

August 29, 2022

While Saguaro may be the best- known of Sonoran Desert icons, another Arid-region icon hangs back, neatly tucked in alongside the streams and rivers of the region, and beyond.. Rising higher than most above dusty landscapes, this iconic, temperate-region tree helped early pioneers settle the west, guiding the newcomer and native settler to where water might be available, and offering relief from the intense sun and summer heat below it's sky dusting canopy. Due to it's mature height, ribbons of this tree could be seen tracing rivers and deep underground springs from miles away when wandering across the land. Anyone who has watched a western-themed movie or television show is likely familiar with this tree, without even realizing it. In some ways, it represents the sheer ruggedness of the untamed west.

Beyond the benefit it has provided humans and our domesticated Livestock, this tree may be second only to Mesquite and / or Palo Verde in value to wildlife in arid regions of the west and neighboring Mexico. Hawks and other Raptors build their nests high in it's canopies, Bears and other mammals may hibernate within the skeletons of the largest specimens, and when they fall, they help provide habitat for fish and Beavers, which in turn, can provide new habitat for this tree.. Here in Arizona, Jaguar and Ocelot probably pass below some of the oldest trees in Southern Arizona when they retrace paths leading to former habitat / explore new habitat north of the US. / Mexico border.

One of many puzzle pieces in a Riparian habitat community, in some areas of the west, including Arizona, Fremont Cottonwood will form near single species "Gallery" forests where they soar high above everything else growing beneath their canopies. Further south, this species, and it's Mexican counterpart, are eventually displaced by other Gallery Forest giants such as Ficus sp., Albizia sinaloensis, Taxodium mucronatum, and some other tropical tree species which reach their northern limits somewhere in the remotest canyons in Sonora proper and northern Sinaloa.

While there are a few sizable specimens around town, Southern Arizona contains some of the most intact Cottonwood Gallery Forest / largest individual specimens left in the lower elevation portions of the state. Before the region was over exploited, these same river edge forests were a common sight along the sections of both the Salt and Gila River that pass through and near Phoenix. While efforts are being made to restore the gallery forests along parts of the Salt River within town, restoration efforts there, and any thought out for the barren stretches along the lower Gila, especially factoring in the mounting effects of climate change- induced drought cycles, hotter summers, more erratic summer Monsoon rainfall, combined with overuse of groundwater resources may challenge such efforts.

Roaming the borderlands yesterday, i'd expected to see some examples of this habitat at a couple stops but wasn't prepared for the view once standing within it.. If standing beneath towering Redwoods or Blue Gum ( Eucalyptus globulus ) in California most of my life is an impressive enough sight, standing beneath a stand of middle to older-aged Cottonwood is nothing short of indescribable..

The sound of a breeze, distant thunder and the sound of bird and various insect calls echoing down from 60+ feet above.. providing an interestingly tropical-esque feel... How cool it is beneath them, and the shadows cast from above and through them to the ground far below.

I can only imagine the view when forests like this were much more extensive in the region, let alone the view in the fall when the trees turn bright gold before and while shedding their leaves.

Truly remarkable...

Patagonia, Santa Cruz County, AZ

Las Cienegas NCR, Sonoita, AZ. :

A little advise before walking among Giants...

Excellent example of a Cottonwood Gallery forest..

Grand daddy.. Water Bottle for scale in Picture #2: