Barfoot Now a National Natural Landmark

Barfoot Park, long loved by birders, herpetologists, boy scouts, and hikers in the Chiricahua Mountains, has been designated a National Natural Landmark in a directive signed yesterday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. It joins 590 other locations which have received this honor since the program was established in 1962. The program singles out the best examples of our country's biological and geological features, whether in public or private ownership.

Former view from Barfoot ridge, not far from the Short-tailed Hawk nest

(Photos by Narca)

How bittersweet! Anyone following news of the Horseshoe Two Fire will know that Barfoot was incinerated a couple of weeks ago, in a high-intensity blowout. However, Bill Edwards (District Ranger for the Coronado National Forest) believes that the elements that made it a site of national importance are still present, and that Barfoot will recover, given time. Indeed all of us hope that.

From the press release: "Barfoot Park in the Chiricahua Mountains of southern Arizona supports an unusual mix of Sierra Madre and Rocky Mountain flora and fauna that includes four pine species and 18 other tree species. It also includes more than 15 acres of talus slopes, along with three meadows and two permanent springs. The landmark encompasses 680 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service."

The talus slopes are the U.S. epicenter for a very rare rattlesnake, the Twin-spotted. Forested slopes are home to a rare butterfly, the Pine Satyr, which barely enters the US from Mexico. Did they survive, I wonder? Will Pine Satyrs have to recolonize from Mexico, once habitat is again suitable? Some day will Short-tailed Hawks again nest on the high ridges?

Pine Satyr above Barfoot Park, July 2010

Silene laciniata, or Mexican Pink, in the high Chiricahuas

Young Short-tailed Hawk sketched at nest above Barfoot Park

(Ballpoint pen by Narca)

Six places in all were added to the roster of National Landmarks. In addition to Barfoot, they are Golden Fossil Areas near Golden, Colorado; Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs, Colorado; Kahlotus Ridgetop near Kahlotus, Washington; Round Top Butte near Medford, Oregon; and The Island at the confluence of the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers in eastern Oregon.

Waiting for the Short-tails

A wait can be most engrossing. Today I returned to the Barfoot ridges in the Chiricahuas with Cathie Sandell, Christopher Rustay, and Noel and Helen Snyder, again watching for those two young Short-tailed Hawks and their parents. (Incorrigible, you say?)

At the very start of our vigil, Christopher spotted a fledgling Short-tail flying to a snag on a nearby ridge, prey clutched in its left talons. The buffy youngster perched for awhile, gazing around at the wide world, with no attempt to eat the prey it was carrying. Eventually the young hawk flew, and that was the last we saw of Short-tails for the day.

Pine Satyr, in the U.S. only found in the Chiricahua and Huachuca Mountains (Photos by Narca)

However, it was only the start of an interesting wait, high on the ridge. Hilltopping butterflies––Colorado Hairstreaks, Pine Satyrs, duskywings, cloudywings, sulphurs, blues, Weidemeyer's Admirals––lit in the Gambel's Oak and nectared at Penstemon.

In the U.S. Mexican Chickadees only inhabit Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains and New Mexico's Animas Mountains.

Eventually I wandered farther up the trail (although "trail" may be overstating it!) and found a good vantage point for a closer view of a ridge where the Short-tails like to perch. Several large, lichen-draped snags below my feet were home to a bustling family of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a pair of House Wrens, a family of Yellow-eyed Juncos, and the occasional Mexican Chickadee.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Young Yellow-eyed Junco

As I hiked back, a sudden insect-like buzz announced the presence of a Twin-spotted Rattlesnake. The species is very rare in the US, and the Barfoot region is known for harboring one of the finest populations. Indeed, we hope that the Coronado National Forest plan will grant their habitat here some additional level of protection.

Twin-spotted Rattlesnake

And still we wait for the Short-tails...