An increased awareness of fire danger was articulated at the December 1991 homeowner's meeting; as a result, several people volunteered to research the options available to us to both prevent catastrophic fire and to facilitate prompt and effective fighting of any fire that does get started on or near the property. Members of the team have included Erik Powell, Jan Powell, Cynthia Lunine, Tom Morse, and Katherine Hazen. In 1992, team members spoke with the Sonoita/Elgin Emergency Services, Inc.(SEESI), U.S.D.A. Forest Service fire management specialists, fire ecology, dendochronology, and range management faculty at the University of Arizona, and at least one local cattle rancher. Some literature related to fire history and behavior in this region have provided some indications of what Casas may have looked like before it became a cluster subdivision.
The body of evidence that is available indicates that fire has been an integral and often-present dynamic of the oak woodland/semidesert grassland that includes Casas Arroyo since before the advent of recorded history. Volcanoes and lightning fires were perhaps the first causes of wildfires; in the last thousands of years, man-caused fires became significant as well.
Beginning with the post-Pleistocene (post-Glacial) presence of Archaic Period native American peoples (including both hunters and gatherers), fires are thought to have moved through the Madrean woodlands in a seven to fifteen year cycle. Fires started by these peoples were designed to drive game for hunting, and to accelerate potential plant production for grazing. The Pimic Sobaipuri as well as Apachean groups followed suit for the aforementioned reasons, as well as for agricultural land- clearing. At the time of Spanish, and later Anglo contacts with these groups, they were practicing extensive slash- and-burn agriculture.
The paleontological record of this area remains largely unstudied, and there is therefore little evidence one way or another about grazing patterns before Spanish contact. There are remains of very large herbivores (mammoths) as well as smaller extinct mammals in sites nearby, and modern populations of browsing/grazing animals such as mule deer. Sheep, goats, cattle, and horses were all grazed in this immediate area from the time of Post-Columbian contact to the Anglo- American period. According to Spanish Jesuit documents of the Pimeria Alta mission, Chief Coro and his Pima Sobaipuri band grazed animals in Los Reyes de Sonoitag, near the Fort Crittenden site. From the late nineteenth century to the present, horse and cattle grazing, and wood- cutting made significant impacts upon the ecosystem.
Since the development of the Casas Arroyo de Sonoita subdivision nearly two decades ago significant new interventions and resultant changes have been inserted into the ecosystem dynamics. Fire suppression policies, the lack of large herbivores and/or predators, increased fire danger from fireplaces, smokers, presence of highways, presence of homes and roads, have assisted in creating an ecosystem different from that of any previous era. As the dominating influence on this land at this time in history, the residents and owners of the Casas Arroyo subdivision have accepted the responsibility to manage it for preservation of the values they have collectively identified.
An open homeowners meeting was used to present findings of the initial research by the team and to obtain individual input as to values associated with the property.
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