Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail System finished in Madera Canyon
The Friends of Madera Canyon has finished installing the Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail in legendary Madera Canyon, situated in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson, AZ. The Friends, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, assists the US Forest Service in operating the recreational site in the sky-island canyon that is popular among birders, hikers, campers, and those who want to enjoy a cool walk or picnic among the trees away from the pressures of daily life. The Friends also provides educational programs to area school children and adults. The new fully accessible Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail system will enhance everyone’s educational experience and enjoyment of the canyon.
The Interpretive Nature Trail is named for former Friends volunteer and Board president, Bud Gode, who not only enjoyed the canyon himself but also was an inspirational leader in youth education programs that explain the science behind the natural history of Madera Canyon and the sky-islands of southern Arizona. Gode, a retired civil engineer from Iowa, studied dragonflies, published several scientific papers, and promoted citizen science through volunteerism. He and his wife, Mary, moved to Green Valley in 1998. “He spent four or five days of every week in the canyon,” said Mary Gode. He grew to love the canyon and championed the idea of “conservation through education.” He passed away in 2005 and the Friends and the Gode family are coordinating efforts to build the new Nature Trail. The Gode family donation of $250,000 supplemented by $50,000 from the Chamber of Commerce through the Governor’s Office of Tourism, provided the funds for the basic facilities of the Trail.
Madera Canyon is only a short 11-mile ride on paved roads from I-19 exit 63 in Green Valley, a 32-mile drive from Tucson, and 48 miles from Nogales, AZ. Mt. Wrightson dominates the canyon and with neighboring Mt. Hopkins, shelters a valley that is home to over 240 species of birds, 1,000 varieties of plants, 40 species of reptiles, and thousands of insect species, some yet to be named. The elevation change from the Santa Cruz River Valley in Green Valley at about 2,850 feet to the upper reaches of the canyon at over 9,400 feet creates significantly cooler temperatures as you ride and then hike up the canyon. In turn, the composition of the flora and fauna changes quickly with a short uphill drive or hike making the canyon a unique and ideal educational classroom.
The Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail is a self-guided tour consisting of site-specific exhibits installed in the five existing named public recreation sites in Madera Canyon. The backbone of the Nature Trail is a series of 29 interpretive panels installed within these exhibits describing many aspects of the natural history of the canyon - from animals, plants, climate, geology, and fire ecology to early human occupation and recent history. In addition over 50 plant identification signs on the Nature Trail and Accessible Trails have been installed. Located near the major canyon trailheads, the Nature Trail exhibits enable canyon visitors desiring to learn more about Madera Canyon to “whet their appetite” and gain information before exploring the trails. Introducing Madera Canyon with a covered Interpretive Ramada at the Proctor Parking Area in the desert grasslands at the mouth of the canyon, the exhibits of the Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail ascend the riparian corridor along Madera Canyon Road to a second Ramada in the pine-oak forest at the Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area and Trailheads parking area. In addition to interpretive panels, exhibit sites will include accessible benches and a canopy-level bird viewing platform.
To complement the Nature Trail exhibits, the Friends have raised additional funds for the first in a number of related capital projects including: renovate and reconstruct the trail and bridge to the Amphitheater facility (construction underway), grade and pave the Amphitheater Parking Area in order to prevent erosion, construct a restroom at Amphitheater, remove and remodel the outdated steps, walls and benches at the Madera Picnic Area, rebuild and resurface the Accessible Trail from top to bottom, install large trail map signs at all major canyon trailheads to match existing signs at Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area and Trailheads, and several other capital improvement projects in the Madera Canyon Recreation Area. The Friends of Madera Canyon invites the community to share in ensuring the successful future of the Madera Canyon Recreation Area by contributing to these special needs. Donations can be made directly to the “Friends of Madera Canyon, Special Projects” by mailing a check to P. O. Box 1203, Green Valley, AZ 85622-1203. Contact Keith Siebers, Committee Chair, at: ksiebs@mindspring.com or (520) 648-5280 for more information.
Construction has already begun and the completed Trail should be ready by early next spring.
Bud Gode
Biographical Sketch
By George West with information gleaned from friends, family, the Friends of Madera Canyon’s Canyon Chatter, and an obituary written by friend and scientific colleague, Bob Cruden, dragonfly expert from Iowa City, Iowa.
Orrin John “Bud” Gode was born in Marengo, Iowa, a few miles west of Iowa City on October 10, 1924. His knowledge and love of Iowa was a product of the many years he served as county engineer in Johnson County (Iowa City) and elsewhere in Iowa. His knowledge of how things worked made looking for wildlife, especially dragonflies, much easier. One day Bud and dragonfly colleague Bob Cruden were driving down a country road and came upon a “road closed” sign. Bob slowed the car down, but Bud said “Keep going.” Bob continued with some trepidation, expecting to run into heavy equipment over the next hill. But the road was all done except for painting the center line. Bud knew these things.
Bob reports that collecting with Bud was exciting. They encountered a swarm of feeding Aeshna dragonflies in the Yellow River State Forest in northeast Iowa. Before Bob could put the handle on his net together, Bud was off to the chase. Shortly thereafter, Bud was coming straight at Bob, the net cocked straight overhead, and the net landed at Bob’s feet. The critter was Aeshna tuberculifera, and it was the only time they collected that species. Bud thought that was a good way to start the day. Their first encounter with Ophiogomphus rupinsulensis was on a river in northeast Iowa. Bud walked down to the river, turned upstream, and quickly caught a female in his net. On another occasion it was quite late in the day, and they stopped at a broad, sandy-bottomed river in Bremer County. They watched the river, and eventually a gomphid darted across the river and back and landed in a bush 50 feet downstream. After waiting five minutes or so, Bud took things into his own hands. He walked down to where he thought the critter had landed and beat his net on everything within reach. He was rewarded as the dragonfly flew a considerable distance upstream below a bridge and then it suddenly turned and flew downstream straight at Bob. It was their only collection of Stylurus spiniceps.
During dragonfly surveys in Iowa, Bob comments that Bud rarely tired and was almost always positive, even when they missed a good dragonfly. Mary would often fix lunch for the two of them and sent them out like two “happy little boy scouts.” Their drives across the state were memorable from the Turkey Vultures circling overhead, comments about the “silent-ones” (residents of a cemetery), or “that’s a real fixer-upper” (about a barn ready to fall down). Once Bob called Bud in mid-morning and wondered if he would like to go out in the field for the rest of the day. He said, “Sure.” They were well up the road before he asked if Bob if he had heard the weather forecast for the afternoon. Of course, Bob hadn’t, and the sky was virtually cloudless. Bud passed on the information that there would be rain and thunder storms starting in early afternoon and continuing for the rest of the day. Even so, he thought that it would be profitable to have time for a few hours of collecting. Most of us, having heard the weather report, would have found something else to do. Over the years they learned to take weather forecasts with the proverbial grain of salt. If Bud was tired toward the end of the day, he would become the “sit-and-wait” predator. It always worked. He would see something that Bob had not seen, even though he had walked half a mile upstream and back down the creek. In addition, Bud always took a certain amount of glee in reporting a neat bird he had seen.
Wherever Bud lived, he was involved with education. He returned so much to the community. In Iowa City he volunteered at the local raptor center. He did whatever had to be done from cleaning cages to teaching kids of all ages about birds. Hundreds of kids that visited the Natural History Museum at the University of Iowa have an arrowhead that was carefully crafted by Bud. He guided hundreds of kids through the museum’s exhibits. At Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, he taught students how to paint window sills the old fashioned way. I suspect that they learned a lot more than that. In 1989 or so, Bob found Bud sitting in the front row of his Plant Ecology class. It did not take too many class meetings to realize that Bud was a really good student. At some point he came to me and wondered if he knew enough to take courses at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. Over the course of several summers he took a number of courses at the lab. He loved it.
In 1993 Bud joined forces with one of Bob’s students who was doing a survey of the Odonata (Dragonflies) of Dickinson County at the lab. They spent many evenings side by side at a lab bench with microscopes in front of them and the day’s catch within reach. They argued, laughed, and taught each other. Bob had to listen to some of these exchanges that on occasion, grew a little heated. What a way to learn! By the end of the summer, they could identify with ease, most of the 60+ species that occurred in that part of the state. The following summer, the project expanded to cover the 16 counties of northwestern Iowa and the next year, to cover the entire state. The traits that made Bud and excellent birder were the same ones that made him an excellent odonater (watcher of dragonflies). The project continued after Bud’s departure to Arizona as related by friend and colleague, Ann Johnson, who writes “Bud patiently helped me identify what I was seeing by asking me to find a photo on the web that was somewhat similar and then e-mail him a description and a guess. This was back before Sydney Dunkle's Field Guide to Dragonflies was published so all I had to work with were regional guides - not from Iowa! Bud taught me so much. We often had lengthy e-mail conversations after he moved as things started to transition from lab to field identification. Bud got so excited when we added a new state record. I have thought of him often this summer and in the process of working for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, I’ve added a number of significant records and I know Bud would be so pleased.”
Bud took a trip with an ornithology class at Iowa Lakeside Lab, and according to the professor, “We were canoeing the Bois Brule River in northern Wisconsin and about to go down our first rapids, Wildcat Rapids. So, I got out with the class, and pointed out how to navigate the rapids. I went down first with a student in the bow and a terrified Chinese student in the middle. No problems. The second canoe came down with no problem. Third canoe, no problem. I had asked Bud to come down last to mop up, so to speak. So we’re sitting waiting, but no Bud. He was with a particularly attractive young lady who spent her spare time modeling for Victoria’s Secret, but we didn’t think that was the problem. Finally, here comes a canoe, backwards. Bud, now in the new bow, is paddling over his shoulder trying to dodge rocks, and the student has jumped around in her seat to assume stern duties. They got through without a problem As Bud canoed up, he said, “Anyone can do it forwards.”
During the Second World War, Bud was a Second Lieutenant, a navigator of B-17s, and flew 35 missions over Europe. He earned the ETO ribbon plus two stars and the Air Medal with numbers of clusters. He never talked about this. Following the war, he married Mary Catherine Cooney in April 1945 and soon after he became an engineering student at the University of Iowa. He graduated in 1949. Bud and Mary had three sons and one daughter who eventually gave them a number of grandchildren that they traveled to visit. Bud’s plan was to play with the grandkids until he got tired and then retreat to the motel to rest.
Bud and Mary moved to Green Valley, Arizona, in 1998. Bud quickly found his love in nearby Madera Canyon. Mary comments that he was up in the canyon four or five times a week. Now in his late seventies, he would hike the canyon trails from bottom to top, carrying a plastic bag to pick up litter left by uncaring canyon visitors, watching the wildlife, and talking to hikers about the wonders of the canyon’s many habitats. He soon joined the Friends of Madera Canyon and served as an active volunteer. He was soon recruited to be on the Board of Directors. His intimate knowledge of the canyon made him the perfect choice to lead the Friends education committee. He organized the trips of 4th grade students from area schools to the canyon to teach them the respect that this unique ecosystem deserves and why they should take care of it as they enjoyed it. But it was the joy he received from thankful students and teachers that kept him at the helm year after year. In October 2004, he was unanimously elected President of the Board, but his tenure was cut short by his untimely passing on May 1, 2005.
As chairman of the Clean-up Committee, Bud was in the canyon every Monday morning helping Friends volunteers to keep the canyon clean for future visitors. Most people will remember Bud from his service at the Welcome Station. No single Friends member has put in as many volunteer hours at the Welcome Station as he did. As a Friends volunteer, Bud Gode led by example. He believed that he could make a difference in Madera Canyon and he was willing to prove it. There is no question that the canyon is a better place today because of Bud and his “Friends.” Bud was recruiting future Friends volunteers through his work in the school field trip program and they will become Bud’s legacy to Madera Canyon.
It is our honor to augment Bud’s legacy with the development and construction of the Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail system in Madera Canyon.
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