The Chronicles Of Grant County
This is a Palo Verde Tree in Palm Springs, California. (The photo was provided courtesy of Moonjazz through Flickr, 2013)
Palo Verde Drive, connecting Little Walnut Road and Cottonwood Road just north of the municipal limits of Silver City, gets its name from the Palo Verde Tree.
The Palo Verde Tree is native to New Mexico as well as to a string of states from California and Nevada to South Carolina and Georgia, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
This tree is the state tree of Arizona. According to the Office of the Arizona Secretary of State, “Palo Verde” means “Green Stick” in Spanish: “The Palo Verde is found in the desert and the foothills of Arizona. When the trees bloom in late Spring, they look like gold.”
Twenty-one trees were selected by the Arbor Day Foundation in its contest to select America’s National Tree in 2001. The Palo Verde Tree (spelled by the Foundation as “Paloverde”) was one of those twenty-one trees. It had the notoriety of coming in last among the nominees. A total of 1,114 votes came in for the Palo Verde Tree; the Oak Tree won the contest with 101,146 votes out of a total of 444,628 votes.
The Arbor Day Foundation noted that this tree has been “a source of sustenance for a variety of wildlife, including jackrabbits, rodents, desert birds, and burro deer.”
In a news article dated August 11, 1925, in The Tucson Citizen, the Palo Verde Tree was described as an excellent shade tree that grows well in desert areas “with little water or attention.”
Beyond the roadway in Grant County, “Palo Verde” graces many places and institutions throughout America’s Southwest. Among public facilities, there are “Pale Verde” high schools in Nevada and Arizona as well as “Palo Verde” parks in Texas and California, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Arizona has Palo Verde (an unincorporated community surrounded by the City of Buckeye, west of Phoenix). Not far from Palo Verde, the community, is the Palo Verde nuclear power plant. The United States Energy Information Administration indicated that this facility “is the largest nuclear power plant in the United States with three reactors and a total net summer electricity generating capacity of about 3,937 MW.” While Palo Verde, the nuclear power plant, is the largest in the USA, there are nuclear power plants in other countries that have larger electricity generating capacities.
Energy produced at the Palo Verde nuclear power plant is used by PNM as part of its systems to help light the homes and businesses in Silver City, Bayard, and beyond. PNM, which provides electrical service to a number of communities in Grant County and New Mexico, is part of the ownership of the Palo Verde nuclear power plant.
Blooms of the Palo Verde Tree have been described as golden or yellow in color. (The photo was provided courtesy of Dinah Rodriguez Anaya through Pixabay, 2018.)
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Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofgrantcounty@gmail.com.
© 2020 Richard McDonough