Rackensack Canyon project
One of my favorite nearby sites on the Tonto NF is Rackensack Canyon. The area is in the transition zone between Arizona upland and interior chaparral biotic communities. This is reflected in the main canyon, with interior chaparral dominating north-facing slopes and Arizona upland on the south-facing slopes. In addition the wash running through the canyon hosts riparian vegetation, including cottonwood, willow, ash, sycamore and net-leaf hackberry. The wash runs WNW to ESE, merging with Camp Creek just below the Cave Creek Road (FS 24) crossing.
I created a collection project for the area using a rough map of the canyon's watershed, cheating a bit on the southern boundary to take in parts of a trail along that boundary.
Rackensack Canyon is a good area for birders and butterfly enthusiasts. I'm not sure about organized bird hikes, but the Central Arizona Butterfly Association (CAzBA) holds occasional field trips in the area.
It's also a good area to hunt for galls. Galls have been observed on numerous species including scrub oak, Arizona juniper, net-leaf hackberry, cottonwood, burrobush, catclaw acacia, desert broom, tarragon, even a euphorb in section Anisophyllum.
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I've been in there numerous times! Not so many recently, but I'll be back soon, perhaps with the onset of monsoon rains. Maybe some collective biodiversity dates can be set.
This is neat! I don't frequent that area very often but I've been considering making a similar project for Tonto Natural Bridge State Park and this is just a little more inspiration to do so!
Great idea, Micah! Looks like there's already a map of the place here. If that's a good map, it'll work. Instructions are here. Let me know if you need help. (The fun part is coming up with banner and icon photos.)
I wonder who made that map ;)
Aha! I didn't see that when I searched for it. You're halfway there!
Fantastic! One of my favorite places to document Butterflies and birds! Would it be helpful to add observations from past years?
Sure! It's a collection project, so they will automagically be entered into the project once uploaded to iNat.
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