Settlements like Tumacácori mark locations where the naturally-intermittant Santa Cruz River water is forced to the surface by high bedrock. Today, the river is an effluent-driven system. AVOID CONTACT.
The Santa Cruz River is an international waterway. It begins in the San Rafael Valley, flows southward into Mexico, then makes a U-turn back into the United States. Here, it flows from south to north, eventually joining the Gila River. The river creates essential habitat and a wildlife corridor for threatened and endangered species. Where underlying bedrock slopes up, the water is forced to the surface. The O’odham situated their villages in these locations, known as “gaining reaches,” to take advantage of the reliable water source. Later settlers followed suit. The river provided not only water for drinking and irrigation, but habitat for the complex web of life that supported human settlement. It contributed to every basket, meal, article of clothing, medicine, and cultural practice. Literally every item a person touched over the course of a lifetime connected back to the Santa Cruz River corridor. Today, the cottonwood-willow environment along the Santa Cruz is one of the most rare and endangered habitats in the United States. The river’s plant and animal communities and water quality are threatened by climate change and modern land use. The stretch of river that flows through Tumacácori is now composed almost entirely of treated effluent, released from the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Facility in Rio Rico, Arizona. Although this supplemental water source has supported the return of the endangered Gila topminnow (Poeciliopsis occidentalis), it is not safe for human consumption. Avoid contact.
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Self-guided tour - Anza Trail
This trail protects, marks, and interprets the route traveled by Juan Bautista de Anza and 200 settlers from 1774-1776 to establish a mission and presidio in San Francisco. Walkable portions extend north and south of Tumacácori.
The Santa Cruz River has long been a highway of trade and travel. Prehistoric people followed the river to trade with neighbors. The O’odham farmed along the river, using the floodplain and low banks to grow crops. Later, missionaries and explorers would rely on these existing networks to colonize the area. In 1775, an expedition of approximately 240 people and nearly a thousand head of livestock followed this river on the first part of a journey that would establish the first European settlement on the San Francisco Bay. The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail was designated to commemorate this massive and important movement of settlers across the land. Today the Anza Trail preserves this important history while also providing valuable outdoor recreational space. At Tumacácori it passes through habitat that supports the most diverse migratory bird population outside of the tropics. Hikers, runners, and riders can travel along its route. Even a casual stroll connects visitors to the residents and travelers of history.
Self-guided tour - Mesquite Bosque
Mesquite bosques (small forests) reach their greatest development near desert rivers or where their long roots can reach groundwater. This rich woodland plant community supports a tremendous biodiversity of insects, birds, and mammals. Today, the mesquite bosque of Tumacácori protects the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo and other rare species. It provided the O’odham, and later the Spanish, with wood, medicine, and food.
Mesquite bosques (small forests) reach their greatest development near desert rivers or where their long roots can reach groundwater. This rich woodland plant community supports a tremendous biodiversity of insects, birds, and mammals. Today, the mesquite bosque of Tumacácori protects the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo and other rare species. It provided the O’odham, and later the Spanish, with wood, medicine, and food. Mesquite flowers provide important pollen and nectar for wildlife. The flowers are crowded into long spikes called catkins. When fertilized, the flowers form long green fruits that resemble string beans. They grow and mature through the summer, turning tan or streaked with red. The beans can be eaten at all stages of their growth. The O’odham ate them as a vegetable when green, and ground the pods into a sweet, nutty flour when ripe. They are favored by many animals, including hares, pocket mice, kangaroo rats, pack rats, and javelinas. Although honey mesquite can be found in the region, the velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina) dominates the landscape of Tumacácori. Some theorize that the Spanish introduction of cattle accelerated the spread of mesquite bosques in the Pimería Alta.
