7601

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7601
• Author: Minckley, W. L.
• Title: Native Fishes of Arid Lands
• USFW Year: 1991.
• USFW - Doc Type: A Dwindling Resource of the Desert Southwest.
• Copyright Material: NO

Figure 7. Eroded bank along Cienega Creek, Arizona, 1977
Mesquite, growing on the elevated terrace, forms deep root:
in pursuit of a declining water table, quickly replacing
cottonwood-willow riparian woodlands after channel incision

either eroded away or killed by dropping water
tables, and soon consists mostly of introduced pests
such as saltcedar or Russian olive. Natural riparian
communities persist only as isolated remnants,
almost as curiosities.
Not everywhere is as bad as just described (Fig.
8). If it were this paper would simply be a history 0
habitat and species extinction. Some natural systems
persist, especially at intermediate elevations where
humans judge it less costly to allow the natural
streams to deliver water. Native fishes also persist in
such places, and therein lies one key to their
conservation. Other habitats have been set aside by
governmental or private conservation groups.

Figure 8. The stream in Cajon Bonito, Sonora, is one of the
most intact, low-desert watercourses in the American
Southwest. Photograph by D. A. Hendrickson, 1978.

5