COMMUNITY | SAN PEDRO RIVER
Our river BY SHAR PORIER
T
he San Pedro River begins in Cananea, Mexico, and runs north some 147 miles to the confluence with the Gila River in Winkleman, Arizona. In some places, the river bed is dry; in others, the flow is barely a stream. Yet, this miracle in the desert manages to keep alive one of the most diverse eco-systems in the Southwest, the country, even the world. Beginning at the border with Mexico, whatever the flow, the San Pedro River is the life blood of the magnificent San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA), a 55,990-acre protected area. It is the congressionally-directed responsibility of the U.S. Bureau of Land and has been since it was established in 1988. The SPRNCA is a migration corridor which attracts some 300 bird species, four million strong in all, in the spring and fall. It is also the winter home of many bird species, including cranes, egrets and water fowl, as well as birds of prey.
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Soco 2019
It also holds national significance for its four rare habitat types found rarely in the southwest — cottonwood and willow forests with over 100-yearold established trees, marshlands, grasslands and mesquite woodlands. The cottonwoods and willows support 40 percent of the gray hawk numbers in the United States. The Audubon Society has designated it as a Globally Important Birding Area and many a birder has added to the all-important life list after a morning or afternoon walk of the paths around and along the river. The SPRNCA is also home over 80 species of land mammals making it one of the richest such environments in the world. The many washes carry monsoonal flow from the mountains down into the San Pedro Valley and finally into the river itself. In the summer monsoon, it becomes a raging torrent of muddy water flowing hard and fast with nothing to slow it down but the beaver dams. The re-introduced, persistent builders have helped develop
Riverine system steeped in history It is not just wildlife that makes the San Pedro River unique. It also has a 13,000-year history of civilization and has more than 250 historic sites, relics and ruins, including a mammoth kill site. It has the highest concentration of Clovis sites in North America. History dates from the agricultural Hohokam culture to Spanish missions, military occupations, mining and ranching. There are two protected National Historic Landmarks in the boundaries — the Murray Springs Clovis site and the Lehner MammothKill site. Petroglyphs are also found hidden among brush and rock.