7112

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7112
• Author: Minckley, C. O.
• Title: Fishes of Arizona.
• USFW Year: 1973.
• USFW - Doc Type: Arizona State University,
• Copyright Material: YES

except in
ilted from
derground
Nany such
sometimes
sands and
elsewhere
cast; when
-ermanent,
e channels
~ dammed
k, organic
.es" in the
(Martin &
ottonwood
4), were
ainage, or
sat success
e present,
ions, much
tuts would
e tortuous
tal (Fig. 5).
afore, with
1, 6), orig-
r erosional
area, and
factor like
Arizona at
9
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t.
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r ; :.
s
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Figure 7. Tributary to the White River, Apache County, Arizonan high-elevation cienega
conditions interspersed with riparian gallery forests of confers and various deciduous
trees, ca. 2,500 m above mean sea level.
least, severe over-grazing by domestic livestock in the period ] 870-90
resulted in death of about 75 per cent of the herd when prolonged
drought grasped the region in 1891-94. Effects of this catastrophe on
the land and the terrestrial vegetation are vividly documented by paired
photographs published by Hastings and Turner, which contrast the late
1800s with the 1960s. There can be little doubt that aquatic habitats, and
fishes, also were severely influenced (Hastings, 1959; Miller, 1961 b;
MiTickley, ] 969a).
Streams at intermediate and higher altitudes in Arizona, except
in the south, remain far less disturbed than larger rivers and the other,
lower-elevation waters. This is a result, at least in part, of lesser damage
by man to the surrounding terrain, on 'Indian lands where developers
are just beginning to encroach, and on public lands that must be main-
tained as the watershed to supply needs of the exploding human popu-
lations of lower elevations. Also, because of their higher gradient and
the seasonality of precipitation and flood, the riparian or stream-side
vegetation along such watercourses may well be more resilient to dis-
ruption, undergoing a perpetual succession (Campbell & Green, 1968)
of sorts. In addition, much intermediate- to higher-elevation waters in
Arizona are intensively managed for recreational purposes, principally
sport fishing and some of the more "natural" streams therefore persist.
The highest elevation brooks and creeks support trouts. They are cold,
swift, and turbulent, relatively infertile, and clear, surrounded by coni-
ferous forest and in some areas extensive galleries of deciduous trees
(Fig. 7). At intermediate elevations the creeks are more similar to those
down-st-som