The Tule Creek ACEC encompasses 640 acres of BLM-administered land north of Lake Pleasant (Map 21 ).

Relevance

The Tule Creek area contains significant historic and cultural values, including the Fort Tule site, a prehistoric hilltop ruin, and a home site occupied by miners in the 1920s and 1930s. Tule Creek is an example of a rare Sonoran Desert riparian system dominated by emergent vegetation and occupied by the endangered Gila topminnow.

Importance

The Fort Tule cultural site was probably used as a significant connection in a regional communication system based on signaling among hilltop sites. Fort Tule’s role in the communication system can offer important information on prehistoric social systems during the era it was used.

Tule Creek and its sensitive biological resources are extremely vulnerable to disturbance and degradation from vehicle, mining, and livestock use. Continued protection of Tule Creek is important to the recovery of the endangered Gila topminnow.