Mount Graham (called in Nnee biyati' (Western Apache)Dził Nchaa Sí'an - ′Big Seated Mountain′) is a mountain in Graham County, Arizona, United States, approximately 70 miles (110 km) northeast of Tucson. The mountain reaches 10,724 feet (3,269 m) in height. It is the highest elevation in Graham County, Coronado National Forest and the Pinaleño Mountains.[2] It is also the southernmost peak and land area in the continental United States above 10,000 feet (3,048 m). As the name "Mount Graham" is often used by locals to refer to the entire mountain range, the peak itself is frequently referred to as "High Peak".[4] It is twentieth of the 57 ultra-prominent peaks of the lower 48 states,[5] and the first of the five in Arizona.[6]
Description
Mount Graham summits are headwaters for numerous perennial streams that tumble through five major botanical zones. Located between the southern Rocky Mountains and Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental, and biologically isolated for millennia, the higher elevations have provided refuge for relict populations of plants and animals with adaptive strategies rooted in Pleistocene ice age environmental conditions. Of particular note are stands of the oldest conifer trees in the U.S. Southwest and associated habitats for threatened and endangered species, especially the Mount Graham Red Squirrel.[7]
Located near the northern limit of the Chiricahua Apache homeland and the southern margins of Western Apache territory, the range is one of the Western Apache's four holiest mountains and is considered sacred by all of the region's Native peoples. Since a determination by the Keeper of the Register in 2002, Dził Nchaa Sí'an, as it is known in the Western Apache language, ranks as the largest and most extensive (~330,000 acres) property listed on or formally determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.[8]
The United States Congress authorized construction of the observatories on the mountain in 1988, but there has been outcry from the four federally recognized tribes of the Western Apache Nation and Native American groups, who consider the site to be sacred. Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, also oppose the Mount Graham International Observatory because the higher elevations are the last remaining habitat for the Mount Graham Red Squirrel.
^T. W. Swetnam and P.M. Brown "Oldest known conifers in the Southwestern United States: Temporal and Spatial patterns of Maximum Age," In M.R. Kaufmann, W.H. Moir, and R.L. Bassett, eds., "Old-Growth Forests in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Regions", Proceedings of a Workshop. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RM 213: 24–38 (1992); Henry D. Grissino-Mayer and Harold C. Fritts, "Dendroclimatology and Dendroecology in the Pinaleño Mountains, In Conrad A. Istock and Robert S. Hoffmann, eds., Storm over a Mountain Island: Conservation Biology and the Mt. Graham Affair, pp. 100–20 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995).
^Elizabeth A. Brandt, "The Fight for Dził Nchaa Sí'an, Mt. Graham: Apaches and Astrophysical Development in Arizona," Cultural Survival Quarterly (Winter) 1996: 50–57; John R. Welch, "White Eyes' Lies and the Battle for Dził Nchaa Sí'an," American Indian Quarterly 21 1997: 75–109; Patricia M. Spoerl, Determination of Eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places, Mt. Graham (Dził Nchaa Sí'an) Safford Ranger District, Coronado National Forest, Arizona. Prepared under an agreement with the University of Arizona and submitted to the Keeper of the National Register by Coronado National Forest (2001); Mary M. Farrell, "Proposed MGIO Permit Renewal Determination of Effect," Heritage Resources Report 2008-05-076 (Tucson: Coronado National Forest, April 7, 2008).
^"PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University". PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University. Retrieved September 30, 2023. To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Retrieve Time Series button.
