Arivaca Creek is a small valley

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

in southern

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 List of counties in Arizona, counties in the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1 ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, that is approximately long from its origin in Arivaca Valley to its confluence with the

Brawley Wash Brawley Wash is an ephemeral stream, tributary to the Santa Cruz River, located in Pima County. Its source is in the Altar Valley between the Sierrita and Coyote Mountains at , at the confluence of the Altar and Alambre washes along Arizon ...

stream system. As a seasonal stream, Arivaca Creek is perennial for only about two miles most years and experiences its greatest stream-flow during winter and the summer

Monsoon season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

. Most of Arivaca Creek and the

riparian corridor A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...

it supports is protected as part of the

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (Buenos Aires NWR) provides of habitat for threatened and endangered plants and animals. This refuge, in Pima County, Arizona, was established in 1985. Natural history The semidesert grassland supports the ...

(Buenos Aires NWR). A rare swamp-like desert

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

area called Arivaca Cienega is located in the upper reaches of the creek and makes up the easternmost part of the Buenos Aires NWR. Both areas are open to the public for hiking, bird watching and other outdoor recreational activities. The small community of

Arivaca, Arizona Arivaca ( O'odham: Ali Wa:pk) is an unincorporated community in Pima County, Arizona, United States.Ariv ...

, is located along the banks of the creek, in between the Arivaca Cienega just east of town and the Arivaca Creek trailhead to the west. File:Trail Sign Arivaca Creek Arizona 2015.JPG, Sign at the Arivaca Creek traihead. File:Arivaca Creek Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge Arizona 2015.JPG, Arivaca Creek, near the ruins of the historic Wilbur Ranch House. File:Lizard Arivaca Creek Trail Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge 2015.JPG, Lizard along the trail.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Pima County, Arizona Rivers of Arizona Birdwatching sites in the United States Protected areas of Pima County, Arizona Protected areas of the Sonoran Desert

See also

References