Cactus Forest Drive: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Saguaro National Park, National Park Service
e2M, Contractor. 2008. Cactus Forest Drive: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Saguaro National Park, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 850490. NPS Intermountain Regional Office. Intermountain Regional Office/CLI Database
Cactus Forest Drive is a scenic roadway located within the Rincon Mountain District of Saguaro National Park, on the east side of Tucson, Arizona. The designed landscape provides an example of patterns in park development and public works projects during the 1930s. The cultural landscape is significant at the state level between 1935 and 1939, reflecting the national and region trend of New Deal-era park development. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) activity for Cactus Forest Drive was related to conservation projects and development of road and recreation areas. The landscape continues to reflect the effects of the government-sponsored work program, as well as philosophies of national park design during that time. The road is associated with areas of tourism, park development, and Depression-era road projects. In addition to its connection with historic events, the significance of Cactus Forest Drive is related to the characteristics of construction. The form, proportions, materials, and structure of the site’s features are representative of CCC construction trends. The vernacular stonework illustrates a regional style, as well as the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement and the Rustic design style. Features associated with Cactus Forest Drive include the existing roadbed and alignment, multiple course-stone retaining walls, masonry culverts, and drainage-control features built during the 1930s by the CCC. Although a number of the turnouts are probably associated with CCC-era construction, the archival information does not specifically define where or how many turnouts were put in during initial road construction. It is likely that additional turnouts were informally added through the years in order to meet the needs of the park. This Cultural Landscape Inventory provides a record of documentation collected for a Cultural Landscape Assessment, which was completed in October of 2005. The landscape has been altered since that time due to a 2006 rehabilitation project, which included repaving, minor widening to include a bike lane, road striping, and alteration of several turnouts. These activities were determined to have no adverse effects on the historic road.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- e2M, Contractor
- Date of Issue
- 2008-09-08
- Publisher
- NPS Intermountain Regional Office
- Units
- IMR , SAGU
- Keywords
- Arizona, arts and crafts, CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, Cultural Landscape Assessment, Designed Landscape, Drainage Control, Great Depression, Landscape architecture, Loop Road, Masonary Culverts, New Deal, Park Design, park development, Pima County, Politics-Government, Recreation, Rehabilitation, retaining wall, Rincon Mountain District, Road Construction, Road Projects, roadbed, Rustic style, Scenic Road, Skyline Loop Road, The 1930s: Era of Public Works, Tourism, Transportation, Tucson, Turnout, University of Arizona