Taking its name from one of the longest living trees in the Arizona desert, the 129,000-acre Ironwood Forest National Monument is a true Sonoran Desert showcase. Keeping company with the ironwood trees are mesquite, palo verde, creosote, and saguaro, blanketing the monument floor beneath rugged mountain ranges named Silver Bell, Waterman and Sawtooth. In between, desert valleys lay quietly to complete the setting.

Elevations here range from 1,800 to more than 4,200 feet. Ragged Top Mountain is the biological and geological crown jewel of the monument. Several endangered and threatened species live here, including the Nichols turk’s head cactus and the lesser long-nosed bat. The monument also contains habitat for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl. The desert bighorn sheep dwelling in the region are the last viable population indigenous to the Tucson basin.

Three areas within the monument, the Los Robles Archeological District, the Mission of Santa Ana del Chiquiburitac and the Cocoraque Butte Archaeological District, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The area holds abundant rock art sites and other archaeological objects of scientific interest. Humans have inhabited the area for more than 5,000 years. More than 200 sites from the prehistoric Hohokam period (600 A.D. to 1440 A.D.) have been recorded in the area. In more modern times, the area was a source of minerals and continues to support active mining operations today.

Source: BLM Website (March 2023)

Establishment Ironwood Forest National Monument — June 9, 2000

For More Information Please Visit The OFFICIAL BLM WEBSITE

Annual Manager's Report: 2021, Ironwood Forest National Monument (Jewell Jones and Colleen Bergmanis, 2021)

Annual Manager's Report: 2022, Ironwood Forest National Monument (Michael S. Dixon, Theresa Condo, Clint Dalton, Keith Hughes, Anthony Johnson, Francisco Mendoza, Dan Moore, Robert Walter and Bill Werner, 2022)

Archaeology of the Ironwood Forest National Monument and the surrounding Tucson Basin: An introduction for teachers and parents of young children (Friends of Ironwood Forest, 2011)

Bibliography of the Geology and Mineral Resources of Ironwood Forest National Monument, Pina and Pinal Counties, Arizona Arizona Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-15 (Raymond C. Haris and Richard A. Trapp, November 2000)

Desert Ironwood Primer: Biodiversity and Uses Associated with the Ancient Legume and Cactus Forests in the Sonoran Desert (Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, February 2000)

Establishment of the Ironwood Forest National Monument (John F. Wiens, ASDM News, April-May-June 2017)

Geological and Ecological Diversity in the Proposed Ironwood Preserve: Assessing Rock-Soil-Plant-Wildlife Relations in the Silverbell, Ragged Top, Waterman and Roskruge Ranges of Pima County (Mark A. Dimmitt, Gary P. Nabhan, Yajaira F. Gray and Kimberly A. Buck, eds., May 2000)

Guardabosques Juveníl Manual, Monumento Nacíonal Bosque Ironwood: Guía de actívídades (2017)

Ironwood Forest National Monument Access, Trave Route Inventory and Visitor Use Study (Randy Gimblett, February 2004)

Junior Ranger Handbook, Iron Forest National Monument: An Activity Guide (2017)

Manager's Annual Report, FY2014 (Claire Crow, 2014)

Map, Ironwood Forest National Monument (BLM, 2015)

Natural History, Archaeology, and Cultures of Southern Arizona's Ironwood Forest (Royce E. Ballinger, Allen Dart and Michael Heilen, Old Pueblo Archaeology: Bulletin of Old Pueblo Archaeology Center, No. 73, February 2015)

Pre-Plan Analysis for the Ironwood Forest National Monument (Darrell Tersey, Becky Drennen and Daniel Moore, February 9, 2001)

Proclamation 7320—Establishment of the Ironwood Forest National Monument (William J. Clinton, June 9, 2000)

Proposal for the Establishment of the Morris K. Udall Ironwood Forest-Upland Corridor National Monument located in Pima and Pinal Counties in Southeastern Arizona (Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, April 2000)

Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan, Ironwood Forest National Monument (February 2013)

Summary of Economic Performance in the Surrounding Communities: Ironwood Forest National Monument (Headwaters Economics, Spring 2017)

Vegetation and Vascular Flora of Ironwood Forest National Monument, Pima and Pinal Counties, Arizona (John F. Wiens, Thomas R. Van Devender and Mark A. Dimmitt, Desert Plants, Vol. 30 No. 2, January 2015)