The area lies on the northeastern edge of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion, an arid habitat with annual rainfall of about 16 inches (400 mm).

The people farmed in the Salt River Valley and supplemented their diet by hunting and gathering native plants.

The Salado were fine craftspeople, producing some of the most flamboyant polychrome pottery and intricately woven textiles to be found in the Southwest.

Other common plants include cholla, prickly pear, hedgehog agave, and barrel cactus (flowering from April to June); yucca, sotol, and agave; creosote bush and ocotillo; palo verde and mesquite trees; an amazing variety of colorful wildflowers in good years (February to March); and a lush riparian area which supports large Arizona Walnut, Arizona Sycamore, and hackberry trees.

It also serves as a home for native animals such as whitetail and mule deer, mountain lion, bobcat, three rattlesnake species, and many more.