Not knowing where in Arizona you are located, there are a few things that come to mind. This does not sound like the normal little critter munching on bark and/or fruit. This sounds more like one of Arizona's larger wildlife is visiting the tree. This could be anything from a bear to and antelope, deer, or elk. Many of these animals can easily reach the 5 or 6 foot height you describe. Look at the area carefully and see if it looks scraped, rather than chewed. Many animals will use this method to mark their territory. You can also take a picture of it and take it or email it to your local wildlife center. When I lived in Florida, I had a bear that was marking several trees on my property. We did not find tracks until after it rained and the ground held the shape of the foot prints. Look very carefully around the tree and its surrounding area for any thacks or droppings. Many times this will give you a good clue as to what might be visiting. If I am way off base, please post a picture so we can investigate this further. If you can't post a pic you can email it to me and I will post it for you. Andi

some peeps actually think its an enormous plus to the visual aspect of trees ... ken ps: i should say.. most of us.. lol ..

That definitely looks like old woodpecker damage. The WP is digging for insects. You may need to tree the tree with a pesticide if you see new damage to kill off what the WP is digging in your tree for. But they stay pecking as long as they detect insects, so if you have no new damage, then you may be safe now. The pecking damage will heal and not be detrimental for the future. It's the underlying bug issue that could cause real issue and if left unchecked, both the bug and continuous pecking would likely kill the tree.

Interesting question and this response is speculative. Certainly living things will exist in the shredded bark and chips. As the wood debris (chips & bark) decompose there'll be even more living things present. It's an assumption that the cherry died of a disease which is transmittable through the new mulch. It may be the disease needs cherry sap, cambium or some other part of the living tree, too, so that the invertebrates, fungi, etc. won't spread. If existing cherry trees are adjacent to the felled tree, then I would expect the risk is greater. If there are no other cherries near or no cherries at all it's probably safer to leave the mulch. I tend to think that mulch is helpful rather than harmful? It might also depend on the region, climate and species of tree. We planted over 30 trees the year-before-last and there's no evidence that the redwood mulch causes any increase in pests or fungi. Our area is dry (Rocky Mtn.) and NJ may be different in this respect? All of our trees are healthy but they are conifers and as can be seen they are resting in deep mulch.