The once perennial river now dries up halfway through its journey. Large mammals, like the now-endangered Mexican gray wolf, relied on the river for food.īut in the 21 st century, depending on the time of year and winter precipitation amounts, the river doesn't resemble its headwaters to the east or its former glory through the desert. Wetlands sprawled from either side of the river’s banks, riparian habitats thrived with lush cottonwoods and vegetation for birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The once perennial river gave life to stretches of dry Sonoran Desert. The Gila was once one of the richest waterways in one of the most productive river ecosystems in the American Southwest. Rushing past towering cliffs, the Gila crosses into Arizona, stretching for nearly 600 miles until its confluence with the Colorado near Yuma. This is the headwaters of the Gila River, one of the Colorado River's longest tributaries. Below the surface, it is one of the only places to find the rare Gila trout. Bald eagles dip their talons in the water for a snack.
Black bears, mountain lions and javelinas cool off in the river during summer.
High in the forested hills of western New Mexico's Gila National Forest, a river forges a lifeline, sustaining abundant wildlife in one of the largest and healthiest Ponderosa pine forests on the planet.
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