Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments: Natural resource condition assessment

Baril, Lisa; Struthers, Kimberly; Hubbard, Andy; Mateljak, Anna; Angell, Deborah; McIntyre, Cheyryl; Brunson, Mark

The Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program, administered by the National Park Service’s (NPS) Water Resources Division, provides a multidisciplinary synthesis of existing scientific data and knowledge about current conditions of important national park natural resources through the development of a park-specific report. The NRCA process for the co-administered Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle National Monuments (NMs) was initiated in 2010 as a collaborative effort between monument staff, the National Park Service Sonoran Desert Inventory and Monitoring Network (SODN) staff, NPS Intermountain Region, and the Sonoran Institute. Ten focal natural resources were selected for condition assessment reporting, and in 2017, Utah State University was added as a partner to complete the monuments’ combined NRCA report. Montezuma Castle was established as a national monument in 1906 because of “... the prehistoric structure known as Montezuma’s Castle... is of the greatest ethnological value and scientific interest.” In 1939, Tuzigoot NM was established to preserve “... historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of historic or scientific interest ...” and is one of the largest known pueblos of Sinaguan origin built during the period A.D. 1100-1450 and serves as a benchmark of the Tuzigoot Phase of the archeological record. Another unit, Montezuma Well, was added in 1943 and is a large spring in an otherwise arid region in Arizona. In addition to the monuments’ significant cultural resources, the natural resources are also significant. Tuzigoot NM includes a stretch of the Verde River, the only Wild and Scenic River in Arizona, and Montezuma Castle includes two of the river’s tributaries, Beaver Creek and Wet Beaver Creek. Diverse assemblages of vegetation, mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles offer amazing opportunities for scientific inquiry and interpreting the relationship between the long history of human habitation throughout the Verde Valley and the area’s environment. The national monuments’ 10 natural resources evaluated for current conditions were grouped into three broad categories: landscapes (i.e., landscape dynamics and air quality), supporting environment (i.e., hydrology and water quality), and biological integrity (i.e., vegetation and wildlife topics). The majority of resources were found to be in good condition or of moderate concern. Exceptions include fish due to the low diversity of species, which is considered to be of significant concern, and aspects of riparian vegetation due to the presence of invasive, non-native plants. Maintaining or improving the monuments’ resource conditions in light of rapidly changing environmental conditions, such as invasive plants and animals, increasing temperatures, decreasing precipitation, and land use change is challenging. The monuments’ proximity to the Coconino National Forest provides outstanding opportunities for developing partnerships to achieve shared conservation goals. With the number of landscape-scale changes that are occurring, landscape-scale coordination of resource protection is paramount to resource preservation.

Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments: Natural resource condition assessment

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