Natural Features & Ecosystems

Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park Service's ability to manage park resources in a manner that “preserves, unimpaired, the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” The National Park Service has implemented a strategy to institutionalize scientifically credible natural resource inventory and monitoring servicewide as a means to meet this mandate of the NPS Organic Act. The effort will ensure that the 270 park units with significant natural resources possess the information needed for effective, science-based resource protection and management.

The Sonoran Desert Network (SODN) consists of 10 units in central and southern Arizona and 1 unit in southwestern New Mexico. These units are characteristic of the upper Sonoran subdivision of the Sonoran Desert Ecoregion and the Apache Highlands Ecoregion, and range in size from half a square mile to 517 square miles (147 to 133,882 hectares).  Montezuma Castle & Tuzigoot National Monument are two of those units.