| Bavispe River | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | Mexico |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Mouth | Yaqui River |
• coordinates | 29°31′48″N109°14′19″W / 29.5299°N 109.2385°W /29.5299; -109.2385 |
TheRio Bavispe orBavispe River is a river inMexico which flows briefly north then mainly south by southwest until it joins with theAros River to become theYaqui River, eventually joining theGulf of California.[1]
Historically, the Rio Bavispe valley was the scene of many Apache raids and their skirmishes with the Mexican military. Missionaries settled the upper Bavispe River in the early 1600s.[2]
The Bavispe River comprises a large part of the northern Yaqui River watershed. The mainstem of the Bavispe starts in theSierra Madre Occidental right on the border ofChihuahua, southeast ofHuachinera, Sonora, and is formed by the confluence of three rivers at aptly namedTrês Rios. The Rio Bavispe flows northwest through mountainous country until the upper end of the wide Bavispe Valley. This valley trends northward until making a 180 degree curve west around theSierra del Tigre. At the north end of the Sierra del Tigre, the Bavispe is joined at Morelos, Sonora by the waters of theRio San Bernardino (which drain theSan Bernardino Valley) whose beginnings are in extreme southeastCochise County, Arizona. From this confluence the Rio Bavispe turns south by southwest and enters the La Angostura Reservoir (Lázaro Cárdenas Dam), then continues 80 miles further south until it joins with the largerRio Aros to form theYaqui River.[3][2] The Yaqui River enters theGulf of California at the port city ofGuaymas, Sonora.
The river hosts an assemblage of native fishes: Yaqui trout, three suckers (Bavispe, Rio Grande, and Yaqui), Mexican stoneroller, roundtail chub, Yaqui catfish, beautiful shiner and longfin dace. Non-native fish include predatory black and yellow bullhead (Ameiras melas andAmeiras natalis).[3]
Important threatened or endangered mammals include theSonoran pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis),Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi),jaguar (Panthera onca),ocelot (Leopardus pardalis),jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi), andlesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae).[3]
North American beaver (Castor canadensis) were historically native to the Rio Bavispe: Baird reported beavers in Canon de Guadalupe (at 5,000 ft, affluent of Rio Bavispe) in 1859, Mearns reported them in Canon de Guadalupe (at 5,000 ft, affluent of Rio Bavispe) in 1907, and Caire observed beaver activity north of Tasaviri (near San Miguelito just west of Morales, Sonora) on the Rio Bavispe mainstem in 1978. A 1999 survey found beaver sign at 14 different sites on the upper Bavispe River mainstem, associated with the presence ofcottonwoods (Populus fremontii) andwillows (Salix exigua).[4]
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