Four major peaks dominate the 20-mile long mountain range: Miller Peak (9,466 ft), Carr (9,220 ft), Ramsey (8,725 ft), and Huachuca Peak (8,410 ft). The highest elevations are Madrean woodlands dominated by Chihuahua pine. These mountains have a diversity of endemic species, including mammals, birds, and mollusks. The Huachuca springsnail is managed under a signed conservation agreement with Coronado National Forest, Fort Huachuca, the USFWS, and AZGFD.
The Huachuca woodlandsnail, Huachuca mountainsnail, and several species of Sonorella talussnails also reside within this COA. A significant colony of lesser long-nosed bats resides in a cave in the Huachuca Mountains, and Arizona’s largest known colony of hibernating bats (cave myotis) roosts in a cave in this mountain range as well.
The mountains also host a high number of SGCN birds, including western yellow-billed cuckoo, Mexican spotted owl, elegant trogon, and many others. A particularly unique feature of this range is the convergence of Rocky Mountain and Sierra Madrean bird populations. For example Virginia’s and black-throated gray warblers of the interior Rocky Mountains and red-faced and olive warblers of the Sierra Madres both occur in this COA. Places such as Ramsey Canyon are popular with birders and provide important habitat for a great diversity of bird species as well as leopard frogs. This mountain range is an important dispersal area for Mexican breeding populations of jaguar and ocelot.
Conservation Goals
- Conserve and protect a major Madrean sky island that represents a rare/unique habitat mosaic in Arizona, supports populations of breeding, year-round and migratory birds, and provides habitat for other SGCN.
- Identify and conserve areas known as stopover and breeding habitats for migratory birds and support their full life-cycle conservation through international collaborations that address threats to their migration and wintering habitats in Mexico, Central America, and beyond.
- Identify and protect important cave hibernacula for bats.
- Implement conservation actions in the Huachuca Springsnail Candidate Conservation Agreement (CCA) and other endemic SGCN mollusks within the Huachuca Mountains and vicinity, to maintain and improve the status and distribution of these snails and reduce threats to their populations and habitat
Map
Primary Threats
3. Climate Change and Severe Weather
7. Human Intrusions and Disturbance
8. Invasive and Other Problematic Species
9. Natural System Modifications
Potential Conservation Actions
1. Land and Water Protection
- Develop conservation easements on public or private lands in order to maintain and protect wildlife corridors and other habitat buffers.
2. Land and Water Management
- Conserve or improve areas for migratory birds identified as important habitats during any part of their annual life cycle (breeding, stopover, or wintering).
- Design lighting and other security infrastructure along the borderlands that minimize disturbance to wildlife, but meet the needs of the Department of Homeland Security.
- Control the spread of invasive and problematic species, including crayfish and bullfrog that affect native aquatic species.
- Reintroduce prescribed burns to increase habitat resiliency in this unique and diverse Madrean woodland habitat.
- Restore woodland habitats with more climate adaptable species to improve landscape resilience over time.
- Improve water flow patterns that have been altered as a result of human activity.
- Increase connectivity by removing barriers and impediments to species movement. Modify pasture and boundary fences to meet wildlife-friendly criteria to allow safe wildlife movement or provide wildlife crossing structures to minimize wildlife/vehicle collisions.
3. Species Management
- Establish and augment populations of fish and wildlife in high quality habitats.
- Conduct research that includes surveying and monitoring species and habitats to determine status and conditions so that resources can be appropriately allocated where they are most needed.
- Improve management and restoration of agave species to provide resources and migration corridors for lesser long-nosed bat and other pollinator species.
7. External Capacity Building
- Work with federal and state agencies to address the critical need for wildlife movement across the international border with Mexico, and help design any necessary border barriers to improve wildlife movement.
- Work with Department of Homeland Security agencies to identify sensitive habitats, incorporate wildlife values, and mitigation actions for borderland management activities.
Habitats Present
- Semidesert Grasslands
- Plains and Great Basin Grasslands
- Madrean Woodlands
- Petran Montane Conifer Forests
- Springs
Strategy Species
Amphibians
Arizona Treefrog, Barking Frog, Chiricahua Leopard Frog, Sonoran Tiger Salamander
Birds
Arizona Woodpecker, Bald Eagle, Band-tailed Pigeon, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Blue-throated Mountain-gem, Arizona Botteri's Sparrow, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Northern Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Cassin's Sparrow, Elegant Trogon, Flammulated Owl, Golden Eagle, Gould's Turkey, Grace's Warbler, Western Grasshopper Sparrow, Greater Pewee, Mexican Jay, Mexican Whip-poor-will, Montezuma Quail, American Goshawk (Northern Goshawk), Olive Warbler, American Peregrine Falcon, Red-faced Warbler, Scaled Quail, Mexican Spotted Owl, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Invertebrates
Bear Canyon Talussnail, Garden Canyon Talussnail, Huachuca Mountainsnail, Huachuca Springsnail, Little Talussnail, Ramsey Canyon Talussnail, Huachuca Woodlandsnail, Huachuca Talussnail
Mammals
Arizona Shrew, Cave Myotis, Jaguar, Lesser Long-nosed Bat, Mexican Free-tailed Bat, Mexican Long-tongued Bat, Ocelot, Pale Townsend's Big-eared Bat, Western Red Bat, Yellow-nosed Cotton Rat
Reptiles
Arizona Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake, Chihuahuan Black-headed Snake, Hooded Nightsnake, Mexican Gartersnake, Ornate Box Turtle, Rock Rattlesnake, Twin-spotted Rattlesnake, Madrean Alligator Lizard, Yarrow's Spiny Lizard, Black-necked Gartersnake
Fish
See Associated Aquatic COAs for fish species.
Protected Areas and Other Areas of Conservation Value
- Coronado National Monument
- Fort Huachuca
- Huachuca Canyon
- Scotia Canyon
- Ramsey Canyon
- Miller Peak Wilderness
Potential Partners
- Bat Conservation International
- US Forest Service
- DOD-Fort Huachuca
- National Wild Turkey Federation
- Sky Island Alliance
- Tucson Audubon Society
- The Nature Conservancy
Relevant Conservation Plans
- An Assessment of the Spatial Extent and Condition of Grasslands in Central and Southern Arizona, Southwestern New Mexico and Northern Mexico
- Western Grassland Initiative Strategic Plan, A Plan for Conserving Grassland Habitat and Wildlife. July 2011
- Southeastern Arizona Grasslands Pronghorn Initiative, 2010-2019
- Southeastern Arizona Grasslands Pronghorn Initiative, 2010-2019
- Arizona Statewide Pronghorn Management Plan 2013
- Chiricahua Leopard Frog Recovery Plan
- Jaguar Recovery Plan
- Ocelot Recovery Plan
- Western Burrowing Owl Clearance Protocol
- Huachuca Springsnail Candidate Conservation Agreement
- Huachuca Water Umbel Recovery Plan
- Sky Island Grassland Assessment: Identifying and Evaluating Priority Grassland Landscapes for Conservation and Restoration in the Borderlands
- Lesser Long-nosed Bat Status Assessment