Although lists for this hotspot date back to 2009, no lists were recorded for the five and a half years prior to 2021;  the paucity of recent lists may mean that eBird data will not give you a complete picture of what to expect at this hotspot.   

Among USFWS-designated Birds of Conservation Concern for the Sonoran Desert, Sierra Madre Occidental, and Chihuahuan Desert regions, species found on multiple lists for the hotspot include Cactus Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, and Phainopepla. Scott’s Oriole, also a regional species of concern,  has been noted in a May list.  

Four towhee species have been observed here:  Abert’s, Canyon, Green-tailed, and Spotted.

This unpaved forest road, also known as Old Marijilda Ranch Road and Marijilda Canyon Road, runs approximately two miles north-northwest from its junction with AZ-366 (Swift Trail Parkway), about three and a third miles from that state road’s junction with US-191, to Marijilda Creek.  Just after crossing the creek, the Lebanon Ditch Road (FR 4515) branches to the northeast whereas FR-57 curves southwest, providing access to Trail #331 and eventually to the Gibson Canyon Trail #308 trailhead at Marijilda Picnic Area.  

FR-57’s junction with AZ-366 (at 3800 fas) is not on Forest Service managed property, but the road soon crosses into Coronado National Forest for the remainder of its length, climbing 200 feet in the stretch to Marijilda Creek. The hotspot pin is located midway between the junction and where FR-57 crosses the creek, that crossing being the coordinates of the Marijilda Creek hotspot. It is likely that data for the FR-57 hotspot primarily represent observations along the road’s first two miles, prior to reaching the creek.

Mount Graham is the tallest of southeastern Arizona’s sky islands—mountain ranges that rise like forested islands out of a desert sea. Ascending this mountain is the ecological equivalent of traveling from Mexico to Canada. Varied biotic communities, layered in life zones, provide ideal habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals, including endemic species found nowhere else in the world.

Known as Dził Nchaa Si’an (or Big Seated Mountain) to the Western Apache, Mount Graham has been home to Indigenous people for thousands of years.

In the late 1800s, Apache tribes that lived here for generations were forced onto reservations, restricting their access to the natural resources and spiritual sites on this mountain. Mount Graham still holds profound cultural significance to tribes today, and many sites are considered sacred.

An influx of Mormon farmers and ranchers in the late 1800s, and mining ventures in the early 1900s, prompted a need for lumber from the pine-covered mountain. Numerous sawmills were built across the range; remnants of some mills are present today.

The Swift Trail follows the original wagon route used to transport lumber down the mountain. Place names along the parkway recall early pioneers, from the namesake Forest Supervisor T. T. Swift, to the families that tended orchards, planted crops, and grazed cattle along the mountain creeks and meadows.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed young men in the 1930s during the Great Depression, had multiple camps on Mount Graham. They constructed roads and bridges, such as the original stone bridge that crossed Wet Canyon. They also developed recreation sites on the mountain, including many of the trails and campgrounds enjoyed by visitors today.

 The Gibson Canyon Trail into the Mt Graham Wilderness Study Area follows a rare (for the Pinaleños) perennial drainage into a canyon believed to support the highest diversity of lizard species in the United States.  Information about the Gibson Canyon Trail may be found here.