Some cool about endangered animals images:
Desert Ecology Trail, Cactus Forest Drive, Saguaro National Park 4
Image by Ken Lund
Enormous cacti, silhouetted by the setting sun, for most of us the Giant Saguaro is the universal symbol of the American West. And yet, these majestic plants are only found in a small portion of the United States. Saguaro National Park protects some of the most impressive forests of these sub-tropical giants, on the edge of the modern City of Tucson.
www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm
Saguaro National Park, located in the state of Arizona, is part of the United States national park system.
Saguaro National Park is divided into two sections, lying approximately 20 miles (32 km) east and 15 miles (24 km) west of the center of the city of Tucson, Arizona. Total area in 2002 was 143 square miles (91,327 acres) (370 km²) of which 111 square miles (289 km²) is designated wilderness. There is a visitor center in each section. Both are easily reached by car from Tucson, but there is no public transport into either section. Both sections conserve fine tracts of the Sonoran Desert, including ranges of significant hills, the Tucson Mountains in the west and the Rincon Mountains in the east. The park gets its name from the saguaro cactus which is native to the region. Many other kinds of cactus, including barrel cactus, cholla cactus, and prickly pear, are also abundant in the park. One endangered animal, the Lesser Long-nosed Bat, lives in the park part of the year during its migration, together with one threatened species, the Mexican Spotted Owl.
The park was established as Saguaro National Monument on March 1, 1933, and changed to a national park on October 14, 1994.
Facilities in the park include 150 miles (240 km) of well marked and maintained hiking trails, and shorter walking trails with interpretative information available. Hiking is not advisable during the hot summer months.
The Rincon Mountain District is located at the eastern edge of Tucson, Arizona; the east side of the park was the original National Monument. What is unique about this park is that it starts off in the Sonoran Desert and gradually gives way to a montane coniferous forest of the Rincon Mountains. The highest peak in this range is Mica Mountain, at an elevation of 8,666 feet (2641 m). While this side of the park has fewer Saguaros than its counterpart they remain larger in size, due to higher amounts of rainfall and run off from the Rincon Mountains.
The key feature of this district is its 8.3-mile (13.4 km) loop, which connects its two picnic areas and central trails. Recently after a lengthy road improvement project, and refurbishment of the Visitor Center, the Rincon District is fully open once more.
Hiking on this side of the park is readily accessible to visitors. There are trail heads present at the east end of Speedway and Broadway, but these trail heads are commonly used by horses and get heavy usage on the weekends. Off the park's loop road there are several additional trail heads. Each Visitor Center will supply a map of hiking trails on request.
And at the southern boundary of the park is the Hope Camp Trails which are also commonly used for horses. Access to the Hope Camp Trails is found at the end of Camino Loma Alta, however the road is no longer paved for the last couple hundred yards. This section of the park was added in 1991 when Congress authroized the purchase of 4,011 acres (16.23 km2).
The East Unit is open to camping, but camping is confined to backcountry sites, the shortest hike to one is 5.9 miles (9.5 km) to Douglas Springs Campground. Fees for campsites are .00 a night. While there are not spots for RV’s overnight in the park, Colossal Cave Mountain Park which is ten miles (16 km) down Old Spanish Trail from the park can provide such space.
Be aware that dogs are allowed on the trails, but must be on a leash at all times. Bicycles are confined to the loop road and the Cactus Forest Trail.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro_National_Park
The Sonoran Desert (sometimes called the Gila Desert after the Gila River or the Low Desert in opposition to the higher Mojave Desert) is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest deserts in North America, with an area of 311,000 km² (120,000 mi²). The desert contains a variety of unique plants and animals, such as the saguaro cactus. On January 17, 2001, 2,008 km² (496,337 acres) of the Sonoran Desert was set aside as the Sonoran Desert National Monument for the purpose of enhancing resource protection.[1]
The Sonoran Desert wraps around the northern end of the Gulf of California, from northeastern Baja California through southeastern California and southwestern Arizona to western Sonora. It is bounded on the west by the Peninsular Ranges, which separate it from the California chaparral and woodlands and Baja California desert ecoregions of the Pacific slope. To the north, the Sonoran Desert transitions to the cold-winter Mojave, Great Basin, and Colorado Plateau deserts. To the east, the deserts transition to the coniferous Arizona Mountains forests and Sierra Madre Occidental forests at higher elevations. The Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest marks the transition from the Sonoran Desert to the tropical dry forests of Sinaloa.
The desert's sub-regions include the Colorado Desert and Yuma Desert. In the 1957 publication, Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert, Forrest Shreve divided the Sonoran Desert into seven regions according to characteristic vegetation: Lower Colorado Valley, Arizona Upland, Plains of Sonora, Foothills of Sonora, Central Gulf Coast, Vizcaino Region, and Magdalena Region. (see An Overview of the Sonoran Desert, external link below). Many ecologists now consider Shreve's Vizcaino and Magdalena regions, which lie on the western side of the Baja California Peninsula, to be a separate ecoregion, the Baja California desert.
The Sonoran Desert includes 60 mammal species, 350 bird species, 20 amphibian species, 100+ reptile species, 30 native fish species, and more than 2000 native plant species. The Sonoran Desert area southwest of Tucson and near the Mexican border is vital habitat for the only population of Jaguars living within the United States.
Many plants not only survive the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert, but they actually thrive. Many have evolved to have specialized adaptations to the desert climate. The Sonoran Desert's biseasonal rainfall pattern results in more plant species than in the other North America deserts. The Sonoran Desert includes such plants from the agave family, palm family, cactus family, legume family, and many others.
Sonoran Desert near Tucson, AZ in DecemberThe Sonoran is the only place in the world where the famous saguaro cactus grows in the wild. Cholla, beavertail, hedgehog, fishhook, prickly pear, night blooming cereus, and organ pipe are other species of cactus found here. Cactus provide food and homes to many desert mammals and birds, with showy flowers in reds, pinks, yellows, and whites blooming most commonly from late March through June, depending on the species and seasonal temperatures.
Creosote bush and bur sage dominate valley floors. Indigo bush, Mormon tea, and mesquite are other shrubs that may be found. Wildflowers include desert sand verbena, desert sunflower, and evening primroses. Ascending from the valley up bajadas, various subtrees such as palo verde, ironwood, desert willow, and crucifixion thorn are common, as well as multi-stemmed ocotillo. Shrubs found at higher elevations include whitethorn acacia, fairy duster, and jojoba. In the desert subdivisions found on Baja California, cardon cactus, elephant tree, and boojum tree occur.[2] the California Fan Palm is also found in parts of the Sonoran Desert including areas of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.[3]
The Sonoran Desert is home to seventeen aboriginal American cultures[citation needed].
The largest city in the Sonoran Desert is Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A., with a 2006 metropolitan population of about 4.2 million. [4] This metropolitan area in central Arizona is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States. In the North Phoenix area, desert is losing ground to development at a rate of approximately 4,000 m2 (1 acre ) per hour.[5] The next largest cities are Tucson, in southern Arizona, U.S.A., with a metro area population of around 1 million,[4] and Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, whose municipality also has a population of around 900,000. The municipality of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico has a population of around 700,000.[6][7]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoran_Desert
Desert Ecology Trail, Cactus Forest Drive, Saguaro National Park 8
Image by Ken Lund
Enormous cacti, silhouetted by the setting sun, for most of us the Giant Saguaro is the universal symbol of the American West. And yet, these majestic plants are only found in a small portion of the United States. Saguaro National Park protects some of the most impressive forests of these sub-tropical giants, on the edge of the modern City of Tucson.
www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm
Saguaro National Park, located in the state of Arizona, is part of the United States national park system.
Saguaro National Park is divided into two sections, lying approximately 20 miles (32 km) east and 15 miles (24 km) west of the center of the city of Tucson, Arizona. Total area in 2002 was 143 square miles (91,327 acres) (370 km²) of which 111 square miles (289 km²) is designated wilderness. There is a visitor center in each section. Both are easily reached by car from Tucson, but there is no public transport into either section. Both sections conserve fine tracts of the Sonoran Desert, including ranges of significant hills, the Tucson Mountains in the west and the Rincon Mountains in the east. The park gets its name from the saguaro cactus which is native to the region. Many other kinds of cactus, including barrel cactus, cholla cactus, and prickly pear, are also abundant in the park. One endangered animal, the Lesser Long-nosed Bat, lives in the park part of the year during its migration, together with one threatened species, the Mexican Spotted Owl.
The park was established as Saguaro National Monument on March 1, 1933, and changed to a national park on October 14, 1994.
Facilities in the park include 150 miles (240 km) of well marked and maintained hiking trails, and shorter walking trails with interpretative information available. Hiking is not advisable during the hot summer months.
The Rincon Mountain District is located at the eastern edge of Tucson, Arizona; the east side of the park was the original National Monument. What is unique about this park is that it starts off in the Sonoran Desert and gradually gives way to a montane coniferous forest of the Rincon Mountains. The highest peak in this range is Mica Mountain, at an elevation of 8,666 feet (2641 m). While this side of the park has fewer Saguaros than its counterpart they remain larger in size, due to higher amounts of rainfall and run off from the Rincon Mountains.
The key feature of this district is its 8.3-mile (13.4 km) loop, which connects its two picnic areas and central trails. Recently after a lengthy road improvement project, and refurbishment of the Visitor Center, the Rincon District is fully open once more.
Hiking on this side of the park is readily accessible to visitors. There are trail heads present at the east end of Speedway and Broadway, but these trail heads are commonly used by horses and get heavy usage on the weekends. Off the park's loop road there are several additional trail heads. Each Visitor Center will supply a map of hiking trails on request.
And at the southern boundary of the park is the Hope Camp Trails which are also commonly used for horses. Access to the Hope Camp Trails is found at the end of Camino Loma Alta, however the road is no longer paved for the last couple hundred yards. This section of the park was added in 1991 when Congress authroized the purchase of 4,011 acres (16.23 km2).
The East Unit is open to camping, but camping is confined to backcountry sites, the shortest hike to one is 5.9 miles (9.5 km) to Douglas Springs Campground. Fees for campsites are .00 a night. While there are not spots for RV’s overnight in the park, Colossal Cave Mountain Park which is ten miles (16 km) down Old Spanish Trail from the park can provide such space.
Be aware that dogs are allowed on the trails, but must be on a leash at all times. Bicycles are confined to the loop road and the Cactus Forest Trail.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro_National_Park
The Sonoran Desert (sometimes called the Gila Desert after the Gila River or the Low Desert in opposition to the higher Mojave Desert) is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest deserts in North America, with an area of 311,000 km² (120,000 mi²). The desert contains a variety of unique plants and animals, such as the saguaro cactus. On January 17, 2001, 2,008 km² (496,337 acres) of the Sonoran Desert was set aside as the Sonoran Desert National Monument for the purpose of enhancing resource protection.[1]
The Sonoran Desert wraps around the northern end of the Gulf of California, from northeastern Baja California through southeastern California and southwestern Arizona to western Sonora. It is bounded on the west by the Peninsular Ranges, which separate it from the California chaparral and woodlands and Baja California desert ecoregions of the Pacific slope. To the north, the Sonoran Desert transitions to the cold-winter Mojave, Great Basin, and Colorado Plateau deserts. To the east, the deserts transition to the coniferous Arizona Mountains forests and Sierra Madre Occidental forests at higher elevations. The Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest marks the transition from the Sonoran Desert to the tropical dry forests of Sinaloa.
The desert's sub-regions include the Colorado Desert and Yuma Desert. In the 1957 publication, Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert, Forrest Shreve divided the Sonoran Desert into seven regions according to characteristic vegetation: Lower Colorado Valley, Arizona Upland, Plains of Sonora, Foothills of Sonora, Central Gulf Coast, Vizcaino Region, and Magdalena Region. (see An Overview of the Sonoran Desert, external link below). Many ecologists now consider Shreve's Vizcaino and Magdalena regions, which lie on the western side of the Baja California Peninsula, to be a separate ecoregion, the Baja California desert.
The Sonoran Desert includes 60 mammal species, 350 bird species, 20 amphibian species, 100+ reptile species, 30 native fish species, and more than 2000 native plant species. The Sonoran Desert area southwest of Tucson and near the Mexican border is vital habitat for the only population of Jaguars living within the United States.
Many plants not only survive the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert, but they actually thrive. Many have evolved to have specialized adaptations to the desert climate. The Sonoran Desert's biseasonal rainfall pattern results in more plant species than in the other North America deserts. The Sonoran Desert includes such plants from the agave family, palm family, cactus family, legume family, and many others.
Sonoran Desert near Tucson, AZ in DecemberThe Sonoran is the only place in the world where the famous saguaro cactus grows in the wild. Cholla, beavertail, hedgehog, fishhook, prickly pear, night blooming cereus, and organ pipe are other species of cactus found here. Cactus provide food and homes to many desert mammals and birds, with showy flowers in reds, pinks, yellows, and whites blooming most commonly from late March through June, depending on the species and seasonal temperatures.
Creosote bush and bur sage dominate valley floors. Indigo bush, Mormon tea, and mesquite are other shrubs that may be found. Wildflowers include desert sand verbena, desert sunflower, and evening primroses. Ascending from the valley up bajadas, various subtrees such as palo verde, ironwood, desert willow, and crucifixion thorn are common, as well as multi-stemmed ocotillo. Shrubs found at higher elevations include whitethorn acacia, fairy duster, and jojoba. In the desert subdivisions found on Baja California, cardon cactus, elephant tree, and boojum tree occur.[2] the California Fan Palm is also found in parts of the Sonoran Desert including areas of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.[3]
The Sonoran Desert is home to seventeen aboriginal American cultures[citation needed].
The largest city in the Sonoran Desert is Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A., with a 2006 metropolitan population of about 4.2 million. [4] This metropolitan area in central Arizona is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States. In the North Phoenix area, desert is losing ground to development at a rate of approximately 4,000 m2 (1 acre ) per hour.[5] The next largest cities are Tucson, in southern Arizona, U.S.A., with a metro area population of around 1 million,[4] and Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, whose municipality also has a population of around 900,000. The municipality of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico has a population of around 700,000.[6][7]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoran_Desert
