Sierra Madre Occidental Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through Northwestern and Western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. The Spanish name "sierra madre" means "mother mountains" and "occidental" means "western" in English, with these being the "Western Mother Mountains". To the east, from the Spanish "oriental" meaning
Pajarito Mountains, Arizona Pajarito Mountains, Arizona The Pajarito Mountains are a small mountain range of western Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The range is adjacent the Atascosa Mountains at its north, with both ranges in the center of a north-south sequence of ranges called the Tumacacori Highlands. The Highlands have the Tumacacori Mountains at the north, and south of the U.S.-Mexico border, the Sierra La Esmeralda range, (the Emerald Mountains). The Tumacacori Highlands are part of a regional conservancy study of 'travel corridors' for cats, called "Cuatro Gatos", Four Cats, for mountain lions, ocelot, bobcat, and jaguar. The lower elevation Cerro Colorado Mountains to