Preserving the San Rafael Watershed in Southern Arizona
Preserving the San Rafael Watershed in Southern Arizona
The San Rafael Valley is a high intermontane grass valley in eastern Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The valley is bounded to the west by the Patagonia Mountains, to the north and northeast by the Canelo Hills and to the east by the Huachuca Mountains in Cochise County. The valley forms the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River which flows south into Sonora, Mexico just east of the historic Lochiel townsite.
The San Rafael de la Zanja Land Grant lies in the valley center just north of Lochiel. The Nature Conservancy purchased the former land grant ranch in 1998 and Arizona established the "San Rafael State Natural Area" in the valley in 1999 on the southern part of that property. The protected areas are not open to the public. The land grant is privately owned. The State Natural Area is south of the land grant, and borders Mexico. In 2008, the San Rafael Ranch headquarters was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the "San Rafael Ranch Historic District".
The San Rafael Valley © Bob Sharp
The magnificent San Rafael Valley is located on the southern border of Arizona and Mexico. There are many reasons for its uniqueness.
First and foremost is its natural beauty. Since the early 1950s, movie companies have been filming in the vast expanse of the valley where there are no paved roads, no power lines and no telephone lines. Rimmed by mountain ranges and dotted with oak trees, it is one of the last rolling, unspoiled short grass prairie systems in the United States.
Three mountain ranges enclose the 229 square mile watershed. It is home to the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River, which stretches roughly 180 miles from the crest of the Canelo Hills, crossing the International boundary into Mexico, flowing south to San Lazaro, and swinging back into the United States at Nogales. From there, the river flows north through the Tohono O’odham Nation and slowly comes to an end just south of Casa Grande.
Springs, streams, and marshes, providing habitat for 17 Threatened and Endangered Species, feed the ten-mile stretch of river bed located in the San Rafael Valley from the rim of the Canelo Hills to the border fence. Here, water in the river is pure and uncontaminated, unlike other places along the river course where water is first fouled and later made “safe” into effluent.
Most importantly, the San Rafael watershed is a land in balance, a model of sustainable land management. Economically, ranching has been the highest and best use of the area for over 300 years and remains so to this day. In recent years, tourism provides a major source of revenue to the state and local economy in the form of hiking, fishing, cycling, hunting and bird watching.
The community consists of people and families, many of whom have lived in the area for decades and generations. Three small settlements exist in the watershed: Lochiel, Parker Canyon Lake and Washington Camp/Duquesne. None is located on the open valley floor or on the rims of the mountain ranges. Rather, Lochiel is nestled in a cottonwood grove on the border, while the other communities are hidden in the mountain foothills.
Since 1539, when the very first Europeans, Fray Marcos de Niza and his companion Estevanico, crossed the present day border, possibly at Lochiel, the ecology of the region has remained stable. Over 80% of the private lands have been protected from development through the use of conservation easements, thus ensuring environmental sustainability throughout this small, self-contained ecosystem.
Much can be learned from the San Rafael watershed. Most importantly, this unique and beautiful place demonstrates that humans can live beyond simply co-existing with their environment; they can live in a state of co-enhancement.
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