Cimarron Hills

Cimarron Hills covers 5,303 acres on the Verde Valley flank of the Coconino National Forest, in Yavapai County, Arizona. The terrain is mountainous and montane, anchored by Thirteenmile Rock Butte and the broad Cottonwood Basin that drops toward the Verde River. The major Chasm Creek–Verde River headwaters drain north through Cottonwood Creek and Sycamore Spring, with Tunnel Tank, Sycamore Tank, Buckhead Tank, Doeskin Tank, and the Tenmile, Ninemile, and Nine-and-a-Half-Mile tanks holding stock water across the slopes. The watershed connects upland chaparral and desert grassland directly to the Verde River corridor below.

Vegetation stacks across the elevation and exposure gradient between the basalt highlands and the desert basin. Sky Island Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Sky Island Juniper Savanna with Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) and Arizona singleleaf pinyon (Pinus × kohae) hold the higher benches. Sky Island Pine-Oak Forest and Sky Island Oak Woodland of shrub live oak (Quercus turbinella) carry the cooler exposures, with patches of Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland on the highest ground. Arizona Plateau Chaparral covers steep mid-slopes, where Wright's silktassel (Garrya wrightii), fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), and crucifixion-thorn (Canotia holacantha) form dense thickets. Lower hot slopes give way to Apache-Chihuahuan Desert Grassland, Upper Sonoran Desert Scrub, Saguaro Cactus and Palo Verde Desert, and Mojave Creosote Desert, where Tonto Basin agave (Agave delamateri), golden flower agave (Agave chrysantha), ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), velvet mesquite (Neltuma velutina), and catclaw acacia (Senegalia greggii) anchor the soils. Along Cottonwood Creek and the perennial reaches of the drainage, Warm Desert Streamside Mesquite Grove with Wright's sycamore (Platanus wrightii), netleaf hackberry (Celtis reticulata), and velvet ash (Fraxinus velutina) traces the watercourse.

Wildlife uses every layer of this transitional landscape. Gray vireo (Vireo vicinior), black-throated gray warbler (Setophaga nigrescens), and plumbeous vireo (Vireo plumbeus) glean insects in the pinyon-juniper and pine-oak canopy, while Scott's oriole (Icterus parisorum) nests in the desert grassland yuccas. Broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) and Costa's-pollinated tubular blooms such as scented beardtongue (Penstemon palmeri) anchor a mid-summer pollinator network. Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), near threatened on the IUCN Red List, hunts in the desert scrub alongside Harris's antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus harrisii) and ornate tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus); western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) is common on warm slopes. Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) range across the open grasslands and rocky outcrops. In the streamside woodland along Cottonwood Creek, roundtail chub (Gila robusta), vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, hold in shaded pools, with wood duck (Aix sponsa) and black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) feeding the riparian food web. American black bear (Ursus americanus) and white-nosed coati (Nasua narica) move between the upper canyons and the streamside woodland. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

Moving down from Thirteenmile Rock Butte, a visitor crosses pinyon-juniper canopy onto chaparral slopes, then drops into Cottonwood Basin, where the air warms and grassland opens to scattered saguaro. At Sycamore Spring the route enters the cool shade of sycamore and ash; pools along Cottonwood Creek run between basalt and stream-cut sand.

Cimarron Hills is a 5,303-acre Inventoried Roadless Area within the Coconino National Forest in Yavapai County, Arizona. The area is managed within the Red Rock Ranger District and lies in the U.S. Forest Service's Southwestern Region, draining the Chasm Creek–Verde River headwaters into Cottonwood Creek. It is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

In the Verde Valley, the Archaic period (9,000/3,000 B.C. to A.D. 300) represents the longest cultural occupation, longer than in other areas of the Southwest because of the ecological diversity and large amount of resources [1]. About A.D. 650, a people archaeologists refer to as the Sinagua entered the Flagstaff and Verde Valley regions from east-central Arizona, with the Southern Sinagua living along the middle stretches of the Verde River [1]. After about A.D. 1125, the Sinagua expanded their occupation of the Verde Valley and for the first time constructed cliff dwellings in the Red Rock canyons around present-day Sedona [1]. Like other areas of Northern Arizona, the Verde Valley was abandoned by the Sinagua about A.D. 1400 [1]. The region has long been home to Native Americans, particularly the Sinagua and later the Yavapai and Apache [3]. In 1583, the Antonio de Espejo Expedition encountered the Yavapai while passing through the Verde Valley, and by that time the Tonto Apache had also moved into the area [4].

The first Anglo settlers in the area farmed and provided goods for the soldiers at Camp Verde and for the miners in Jerome beginning in the late 1870s [3]. Mining drove the early industrial economy of the lower Verde Valley. William Clark and Jimmy Douglas developed major smelters and the mining communities of Clarkdale in 1912 and Clemenceau in 1917 [3]. Clemenceau, located near present-day Cottonwood, was a complete company town with thousands of residents, a school, and other community facilities [3]. The Clemenceau smelter closed on December 31, 1936, with great loss of jobs and disruption to the area's economy [3].

Federal protection of the lands that surround Cimarron Hills began in 1898. The area was originally established as the "San Francisco Mountains National Forest Reserve" [2]. It was officially designated a National Forest by President Theodore Roosevelt on July 2, 1908, when the reserve was merged with lands from other surrounding forest reserves to create today's Coconino National Forest [2]. The Coconino now covers 1.856 million acres and is administered from a Supervisor's Office in Flagstaff, with the Red Rock Ranger District—where Cimarron Hills lies—headquartered in Sedona [2]. The roadless designation under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule preserves the section of the Verde River headwaters that drains north toward the historic mining and smelter communities of the Verde Valley.

Vital Resources Protected

• Verde River Headwater Protection: Cimarron Hills' 5,303 roadless acres include the Chasm Creek–Verde River headwaters and Cottonwood Creek above their entry into the Verde Valley—a watershed flagged as major in hydrological significance. Keeping the steep canyon walls and ridge surfaces uncut allows precipitation to infiltrate soils, recharge shallow aquifers, and emerge at Sycamore Spring and the perennial reaches of Cottonwood Creek with a low sediment load. This headwater function sustains the cool pools and gravel reaches that downstream native fish such as roundtail chub (Gila robusta) depend on.

• Elevational Gradient Connectivity from Montane to Sonoran Desert: The area's vegetation stacks across a long elevation and exposure gradient: Sky Island Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Sky Island Pine-Oak Forest on the uplands, Arizona Plateau Chaparral and Apache-Chihuahuan Desert Grassland on the mid-slopes, and Upper Sonoran Desert Scrub, Saguaro Cactus and Palo Verde Desert, and Mojave Creosote Desert at the toe. The roadless condition keeps this gradient unbroken, allowing wide-ranging mammals such as American black bear (Ursus americanus), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) to move between habitats as seasons and forage shift.

• Riparian Function in Streamside Mesquite Grove: Warm Desert Streamside Mesquite Grove traces Cottonwood Creek through Cottonwood Basin, anchored by Wright's sycamore (Platanus wrightii), velvet ash (Fraxinus velutina), and netleaf hackberry (Celtis reticulata). Intact upland slopes dampen flood pulses and sustain dry-season baseflow; the canopy shades creek pools and traps sediment from upslope runoff. This riparian function provides nesting, foraging, and migration habitat for streamside-dependent species, including the IUCN-vulnerable roundtail chub.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation into Verde Headwater Drainages: Road construction across the steep slopes that drop into Cottonwood Basin would expose mineral soil on cut and fill faces. Surface runoff from those slopes delivers fine sediment directly into Cottonwood Creek and the Chasm Creek headwaters, smothering pool substrates and filling the interstitial gravels that aquatic invertebrates and native fish require. Cut slopes continue to shed material for years after construction, so the sediment loading is chronic rather than a single pulse.

• Fragmentation of the Montane-to-Desert Gradient: A road corridor cut across Cimarron Hills would slice through the elevational sequence that currently connects pinyon-juniper, chaparral, grassland, and Sonoran desert in continuous habitat. NatureServe threat assessments identify roads and railroads as a pervasive threat to wide-ranging species such as Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), American black bear, and Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) in this region. Restoring connectivity once severed requires the long process of re-vegetating cut slopes and re-establishing wildlife crossings.

• Invasive Annual Grasses Along Disturbed Corridors: Construction equipment and the bare, regularly disturbed surface of a new road act as a vector and seedbed for non-native annual grasses such as foxtail brome (Bromus rubens). Once established, these grasses increase fine-fuel loads in Saguaro Cactus and Palo Verde Desert, Mojave Creosote Desert, and Sky Island Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, where the natural fire regime is not adapted to carry frequent fast-moving fires. The combination is difficult to reverse because each disturbance reseeds the invasive community and each subsequent fire favors more grass over native saguaro, palo verde, and pinyon-juniper.

Cimarron Hills covers 5,303 acres on the Verde Valley flank of the Coconino National Forest's Red Rock Ranger District, in Yavapai County. Two maintained trails cross the area: the Sycamore Spring Trail (No. 175), 2.3 miles of native-surface tread open to hikers and horse riders, and the General George Crook Trail (No. 130), a 12.0-mile native-surface route along the historic 1870s military road, also open to hikers and horse riders. The Bull Pen Trailhead anchors access from the West Clear Creek corridor, with Clear Creek Campground available for developed overnight stays. Backcountry camping is otherwise dispersed.

Hunting around Cimarron Hills follows Arizona Game and Fish Department regulations for the units that include the Verde Valley and the Coconino National Forest. The mosaic of pinyon-juniper, chaparral, oak-pine, desert grassland, and saguaro desert supports general hunts; pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) range the open grassland, bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) move through rocky outcrops, and American black bear (Ursus americanus) and wild turkey use the upper woodlands. Hunters should verify current AZGFD seasons and unit boundaries before entering.

Birding around the area is exceptionally well-documented. Eighteen eBird hotspots fall within 24 km, anchored by Montezuma Castle National Monument–Montezuma Well (218 species, 1,530 checklists), Montezuma Castle NM (199 species), and Montezuma Well Picnic Area (180 species). Clear Creek Campground (172 species, 583 checklists) records mixed riparian and woodland species adjacent to the area; Wet Beaver Creek Wildlife Area–Bell Trail (157 species), Red Tank Draw (148 species), and West Clear Creek–Bull Pen Road (125 species) extend the regional checklist into similar habitat. Within Cimarron Hills, gray vireo (Vireo vicinior), broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus), black-chinned sparrow (Spizella atrogularis), and Chihuahuan meadowlark (Sturnella lilianae) move through the pinyon-juniper, chaparral, and grassland canopy; black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and wood duck (Aix sponsa) feed along the streamside woodland.

Cottonwood Creek and the perennial reach near Sycamore Spring hold cool-water pools; roundtail chub (Gila robusta) occur in the broader Verde River downstream, and angling is governed by Arizona Game and Fish regulations. The nearby Verde River sites at Beasley Flats, Rezzonico Family Park, and White Bridge Picnic Area document the regional fish community and provide alternative water-access points. Photographers find long views from Thirteenmile Rock Butte across Cottonwood Basin toward the Verde Valley, with strong contrast where pinyon-juniper canopy meets saguaro and the streamside sycamores of Cottonwood Creek.

Because there are no Forest roads inside Cimarron Hills, every activity—following the Sycamore Spring or General George Crook trails, descending to Cottonwood Creek, birding the streamside woodland, hunting the upper pinyon-juniper benches, photographing the saguaro-pinyon transition—depends on the foot or horse approach from the Bull Pen Trailhead and from Clear Creek Campground. A road corridor would shorten walk-in distance but would fragment the unbroken elevational sequence from pine-oak forest to saguaro desert, add sediment and noise to the Verde headwater drainages, and remove the backcountry character that distinguishes the roadless area from the surrounding Forest road network.