Nature
Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area is a 56,430-acre protected expanse in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, established in 1978 within Coronado National Forest. Its great elevation range, from lower desert to high country, creates unusual ecological diversity, with Sonoran Desert plants below, woodlands at mid-elevations, and fir and aspen forests above 8,000 feet. The area was originally protected to help preserve one of Arizona’s last desert bighorn sheep populations, which later declined sharply as nearby development expanded. In 2013, 31 adult sheep were reintroduced, and by early 2014 two lambs had been spotted. Its dramatic landscape also reflects distinctive granite, gneiss, quartzite, and folded mountain geology.
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Catalina Foothills, Arizona · United States
