Despite past attempts to channelize the river, water diversions, and severe drought, the Gila River has remarkably high floodplain connectivity near the communities of Gila and Cliff in southwestern New Mexico. The active floodplain facilitates a mosaic of diverse habitat types while sustaining native riparian vegetation, including remarkable stands of cottonwood, willow, and Arizona sycamore; unlike most riverscapes in the southwestern United States, tamarisk and other non-native trees and shrubs are scarce along this section of the Gila. The orthophoto above was constructed from drone imagery gathered during a study on how the plant community responds to flooding and alluvial groundwater levels at The Nature Conservancy’s Gila River Preserve.