Sonoran Desert Research Center

In cooperation with the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources

U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 2005-1167
version 1.0

Vascular Plant and Vertebrate Inventory of Fort Bowie National Historic Site

By Brian F. Powell, Cecilia A. Schmidt, and William L. Halvorson

2006

desert scene with dirt road going into the distance
Ruins of the original military fort, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Arizona. Photograph by Brian Powell.

Executive Summary

This report summarizes results of an inventory of plants, birds, and mammals of Fort Bowie National Historic Site (NHS) in southeastern Arizona. Surveys at the park were part of a larger effort to inventory vascular plants and vertebrates in eight National Park Service (NPS) units in Arizona and New Mexico. Our inventory efforts build on past research for the park; included in this report is the most comprehensive synthesis of species lists from past studies of plants and vertebrates. Though we did not survey specifically for them, we also include a species lists of amphibians and reptiles that have been observed or documented at the park.

For a park of its size (405 ha), Fort Bowie NHS has extraordinary species richness, especially for plants (638 species) and mammals (57 species). This diversity results from its geographic location at the junction of three biogeographical provinces, its diverse geology, and the presence of year-round water from an active spring.

We found 45 new plant and vertebrate species for the park (Table 1) including:

Based on a review of past studies and our own work, we consider the inventories of plants and vertebrates to be 90% complete. With baseline inventories at Fort Bowie NHS among the most complete of the 11 parks in the Sonoran Desert Network, park staff are now in an excellent position to monitor changes in these resources


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