Riparian Gallery Forest

For thousands of years, rivers in the arid Southwest have sustained people and supported an abundance of plants and wildlife. Though at times unnoticed, the numerous services that these rivers perform provide substantial benefits to the people living near them. For example, the plants growing along the river naturally slow flood flows, improve air quality, and provide shade. Soils in the floodplain, meanwhile, filter and clean the river water as it recharges the groundwater aquifer that supports local residents.

For thousands of years, people in the arid West have built their communities near rivers that supply drinking water, serve as navigation corridors, and support hundreds of plant, fish, and wildlife species. The Upper Santa Cruz is such a river, having sustained human communities for more than 3,500 years. From its headwaters in the San Rafael Valley in Arizona, the Upper Santa Cruz River flows south into Mexico where it completes a 25-mile U-turn and flows north back into the United States through Santa Cruz County, Arizona.

Created as part of a collection of Arizona river overview documents titled "River of the Month Series, Celebrating Arizona’s Rivers".