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Ciénega Creek (English: "Hundred Springs Creek" or "
Marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...
Creek") is an intermittent
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 ...
located in the
Basin and Range Basin and range topography is characterized by alternating parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is a result of crustal extension due to mantle upwelling, gravitational collapse, crustal thickening, or relaxation of confining stresses. The e ...
region of southern
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 ...
, and is one of the most intact
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 ...
s left in the state. It originates in the
Canelo Hills The Canelo Hills are a range of low mountains or hills in eastern Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The range consists of a series of northwest–southeast trending ridges extending from the Sonoita Creek valley southwest of Sonoita to the Parker Ca ...
and continues northwest about to an area just outside
Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, where it becomes known as Pantano Wash. Pantano Wash continues through Tucson and eventually connects with the
Rillito River The Rillito River (; Spanish "Little River") is a river in Pima County, Arizona. It flows from east to west across the northern boundary of the City of Tucson from the confluence of Tanque Verde Creek and Pantano Wash to the Santa Cruz River ...
.


Course

From its origin in the Canelo Hills of Santa Cruz County at , Ciénega Creek flows northwesterly through the upper Ciénega basin, a wide alluvial valley separating the northern Santa Rita and Empire Mountains to the west and the
Whetstone Mountains The Whetstone Mountains are a range of mountains in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County, southeastern Arizona. The Opata people, Opata called the mountains ''Babocomari'', a name still attached to the nearby Babocomari River. The Spanish co ...
to the east. A bedrock high, called "the Narrows," serves as a hydrologic barrier dividing the upper and lower basins, and is characterized by riparian vegetation and perennial flow. Ciénega Creek continues northward through the lower alluvial basin until it bends west/northwest in the vicinity of Anderson and Wakefield Canyons. After crossing
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
near the town of
Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the nume ...
, Ciénega Creek again crosses a bedrock high, and once more the flow becomes perennial. In these stretches, groundwater is forced upward through faults in the bedrock from aquifers near the surface. Just north of Vail, Ciénega Creek becomes known as Pantano Wash, which continues northwest through Tucson and links up with the Rillito River.


Flora and fauna

Ciénega Creek is located within the transitional zone between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts, and exhibits some features of each region. The creek supports "outstanding examples" of cottonwood-
willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...
gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...
and
mesquite bosque Mesquite Bosque is a Association (ecology), vegetative association within the Southwestern United States, under the A.W. Kuchler, Kuchler scheme of plant association categories. Geography The Mesquite Bosque association occurs in the Sonoran Deser ...
, which are home to many bird species that have become rare due to the loss of riparian habitats. Some of the birds that live along the creek are the
Southwestern willow flycatcher The willow flycatcher (''Empidonax traillii'') is a small insect-eating, neotropical migrant bird of the tyrant flycatcher family native to North America. Taxonomy There are four subspecies recognized, all of which breed in North America (i ...
,
Yellow-billed cuckoo The yellow-billed cuckoo (''Coccyzus americanus'') is a member of the cuckoo family. Common folk names for this bird in the southern United States are rain crow and storm crow. These likely refer to the bird's habit of calling on hot days, often ...
, and Bell's vireo. Important lowland populations of riparian and xeroriparian amphibians and reptiles are also known to live along the creek. Included in this group are several
toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...
s, the checkered
garter snake Garter snake is the common name for small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the Family (biology), family Colubridae. They are native to North America, North and Central America, ranging from central Canada in the no ...
, the Madrean alligator lizard, and the giant spotted whiptail lizard. The Mexican garter snake, which has declined throughout its range in the United States, retains a strong population in Ciénega Creek. The federally endangered Chiricahua leopard frog occurs only in the upper reaches of the creek. The lowland
leopard frog Leopard frog is a generic name used to refer to various species in the true frog genus Lithobates. They all have similar coloration: brown or green with spots that form a leopard pattern. They are distinguished by their distribution and behaviora ...
and the
Sonoran mud turtle The Sonora mud turtle (''Kinosternon sonoriense)'' is a species of turtle in the Kinosternidae family. It is found in Mexico and the United States. One subspecies, the Sonoyta mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale) is currently recogni ...
inhabit the stream throughout, rounding a full complement of aquatic, native vertebrate species originally inhabiting the ciénegas of southern Arizona. An unstudied
mollusca Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...
n fauna also lives in the stream. Ciénega Creek is one of the few remaining streams in southern Arizona that has not been invaded by non-native fish.
Las Cienegas National Conservation Area The Las Cienegas National Conservation Area is a National Conservation Area of Arizona, located in the transitional zone between the Sonoran Desert and the Chihuahuan Desert. Description Facing housing and commercial development, more than of ...
supports the largest natural population of the federally endangered
Gila topminnow The Gila topminnow or charalito (''Poeciliopsis occidentalis'') is a species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States. Description The Gila topminnow has an elongated curved body. Males are rarely over and ...
in the United States, as well as a healthy population of endangered
Gila chub The Gila chub (''Gila intermedia'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States. The Gila chub is closely related to the roundtail chub.Rinne, J.N. 1969. ''Cyprinid fishes of the genus Gil ...
and the longfin dace.


Conservation

Las Cienegas National Conservation Area was established in 2000 to protect the upper Ciénega basin. Its headquarters is the historic
Empire Ranch Empire Ranch is a working cattle ranch in southeastern Pima County, Arizona, that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In its heyday, Empire Ranch was one of the largest in Arizona, with a range spanning over , and it ...
, which is located about southeast of Tucson, near the town of Sonoita. Spanning , Las Cienegas includes large areas of grassland and woodland, in addition to Ciénega Creek and the riparian corridor. Empire Ranch, which dates back to the 1870s, is also open to the public, and has been listed on the
National Historic Register The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
since 1976. The Ciénega Creek Natural Preserve was founded in 1986 and is about north of Empire Ranch, in the lower Ciénega basin. With in total, the Ciénega Creek Natural Preserve protects over of the creek, about half of which has perennial flow. There are also a few historic sites located in the preserve, including the ghost town of Pantano and the
Ciénega Bridge Ciénega Bridge is an Spandrel#Bridges, open-spandrel arch bridge which crosses Ciénega Creek and the Union Pacific Railroad near Vail, Arizona, Vail, Arizona. Originally constructed in 1921, the bridge was part of U.S. Route 80 in Arizona, U.S ...
, which was built between 1920 and 1921. In Tucson, much of the Pantano Wash is now part of the Pantano River Park, which includes a paved walkway alongside the wash, as well as restrooms, water fountains, and picnic tables. The Pantano River Park is also home to a Commemorative Tree Park, which will help restore about two miles of riverbank, control floods, erosion and
stormwater runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to '' channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other ...
reduction,
carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. It plays a crucial role in Climate change mitigation, limiting climate change by reducing the amount of Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, carbon dioxide in the atmosphe ...
, urban heat, and provide shade. Since 2012, over 100 desert-adapted commemorative trees have been planted along the eastern banks of Pantano Wash. Hundreds more will be added over the following years, until the goal of 570 trees is reached.


Gallery

File:Cienega Creek Arizona 1880.jpg, Ciénega Creek in 1880 File:Cienega_Creek_Natural_Preserve_Pima_County_Arizona_2014.jpg, View of Ciénega Creek, at the Ciénega Creek Natural Preserve File:Las Cienegas NCA.jpg, View of Ciénega Creek, in the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area File:Cienega_Creek_Natural_Preserve_Entrance_Arizona_2014.jpg, The sign at the entrance to the Ciénega Creek Natural Preserve File:Cienega_Creek_Natural_Preserve_Signs_Arizona_2014.jpg, Signs at the Ciénega Creek Natural Preserve, including a memorial for Jimmie Mercer, who was ambushed by a
cattle rustler Cattle raiding is the act of stealing live cattle, often several or many at once. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examination o ...
near Pantano in 1914 File:Cienega_Creek_Natural_Preserve_Bridge_Marker_Arizona_2014.jpg, A historical marker for the Ciénega Bridge at the Ciénega Creek Natural Preserve, with the bridge in the background File:Prehistoric_Bedrock_Mortar_Davidson_Canyon_Arizona_2014.jpg,
Hohokam Hohokam was a culture in the Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest, North American Southwest in what is now part of south-central Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 CE, with cultural p ...
bedrock mortar A bedrock mortar (BRM) is an anthropogenic circular depression in a rock outcrop or naturally occurring slab, used by people in the past for grinding of grain, acorns or other food products. There are often a cluster of a considerable number of ...
in Davidson Canyon, near its confluence with Ciénega Creek File:Pantano_River_Park_Sign_Tucson_Arizona_2014.jpg, A sign at the entrance to the Pantano River Park in Tucson


See also

*
List of rivers of Arizona List of rivers in Arizona (U.S. state), sorted by name. By drainage basin This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. Colorado River *Colorado River—(downstream-to-upst ...
* Santa Cruz River * Cienega


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cienega Creek Rivers of Arizona Washes of Arizona Rivers of Pima County, Arizona Rivers of Santa Cruz County, Arizona Protected areas of the Sonoran Desert Chihuahuan Desert Santa Cruz River (Arizona)