Saving the Giant Saguaro

March through May is nesting time in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and the park is full of blooming cacti.  It is also full of thousands of hikers, bicyclists, and tourists.  Many of them come to see the majestic Saguaro cactus in bloom.  Others come to destroy it.

In his magazine, All About Saguaros, Carl Hodge said the Saguaro doesn't begin to produce its first seeds until it is 30 years old.  But, in its lifetime the Saguaro can produce up to 40 million seeds.  However, out of those 40 million seeds, only one is expected to reach full maturity. 

That one, which does live to maturity, has the potential of growing into a natural phenomenon weighing 10 tons and reaching more than 50 feet into the air. 

The 1989 edition of Guinness Book of World Records calls a 57-ft. 11-in. Saguaro southwest of Phoenix "The Tallest Cactus."

The Saguaro National Monument has a Saguaro known as the "Granddaddy of all Saguaros."  The giant has 50 arms and is more than 40 feet tall.  It is estimated more than 300 years old.

The Saguaro is also called the "Sentinel of the Desert."  Undisturbed, its life will span naturally over two hundred years.  From the time it is germinated until the it reaches it final stages-when all the spines whither away to dust-it will have reached a five-hundred year succession of life.  To put that into perspective,  Christopher Columbus discovered America 518 years ago in 1492.

This great sentinel watches over the desert.  As a keystone species, It provides food and shelter for more than 100,000 desert dwellers-from birds of prey that nest high off the ground in its arms-to the multiple thousands of insects that feed off its fruit.

For centuries, the Saguaro has given the Native American fruit, seed and drink.  They harvest the red fruit with long poles made from the spines of the saguaro.  Once the ripened fruit is dislodged, it is processed into wine and jelly.

Scientists call the Saguaro an "Indicator Species" because they learn about the overall health of the desert by studying it.

Often the Saguaro's arms are riddled with holes, carved out by the desert Woodpeckers.  The nest inside is called the boot because it is shaped like a man's foot.  First, the mother bird pecks her way into the side of the plant, then down where she lays her eggs.

The Woodpecker is called the "Architect" of the boot.  When it pecks away at the cactus, the Saguaro produces a chemical compound that causes a cork-like callus that seals off the cactus from further harm.  Amazingly the durable callus boot lingers in tact on the ground years after the saguaro itself succumbs to age, and even the spines have returned to dust.

During May, the majestic Saguaro starts to bud.  It's called the "Miracle at Dusk."  Each bud opens only once to be pollinated then closes and never opens again.  A late winter frost will doom any chance of pollination.

Out in the desert, the Saguaro requires a minimum temperature 70 degrees and at least two heavy rainfalls within five days for its seeds to germinate.  When optimum moisture and temperature coincide, germination takes place in 2-3 days.  Even then, each emerging Saguaro infant must have an umbrella-a rock or nurse plant-to shade it from the hot sun.  In some cases, it might take as long as twenty years for a seed to germinate.  Less than one single seed out of 1000 seeds lasts long enough to sprout.

An average life expectancy of a Saguaro in the wild is less than six weeks.  Less than one percent live longer, because any bug lizard, rat, rabbit, or even a cow, will eat the little bud for its moisture.

Furthermore if man continues to press for laws that allow him to over-graze the desert and use the land for housing communities, the Saguaro will certainly face a fate of extinction.

Among the may obstacles facing the saguaro are freezing and lightning fires-which are the largest threat to the species. In 1994 over 1000 cacti were destroyed in the Saguaro National Monument. Theft and vandalism also exist--early in the 1980, a hunter on an outing near Lake Pleasant fixed his shotgun point blank on one.  The giant Saguaro collapsed killing both man and cactus instantly. 

The Saguaro National Monument was established in 1933 on the east side of Tucson to protect what was then one of the most inspiring stands of giant Saguaros found anywhere in the Sonoran Desert.  Yet, even though the land that was set aside to protect the  "Cactus Forest," only 52 years later--in 1985--the giant Saguaros had all but disappeared from the region.

With the decrease in numbers of Saguaro cacti, the birds of prey seek alternative places to raise their nesting fledglings and all too often, the nests get disturbed and the birds never reach maturity. 

In a healthy desert the Saguaro towers over its habitat.  Its blossoms nurture the honey-bee.  It feeds the dove, the bat and the rat. The coyote feeds on the rabbit and baby quail that come to eat the sweet seeds. As bugs forage on fallen fruit, the lizards eat heartily.  Snakes keep shelter deep in the Saguaro's roots awaiting mice to seek shade from the hot sun. Snakes are known to have slithered up through the cactus needles and feed on nesting fledglings.

The desert's natural balance is loosing ground to new houses nearby.  The Saguaro towers silently as a new streets get built across its shade.  It shares the air with the car.  But the car doesn't’t reciprocate. It just moves in and Saguaros must be relocated or destroyed.

When will man's progress stop?  When will the car take second position in the natural balance?  When will the streets turn and go back to a place where a thousand forgotten years ago the bird and the Saguaro were like brothers. 

The answer seems simple. Arizonans must step up to promote the natural habitat in our Sonoran desert to show people how to protect the diminishing Saguaro cactus.  Hermann Braasch of Semeruco Landscape is one such person who rigorously promotes his appreciation of the desert. 

Thanks to Desert lovers like Braasch who continue to immortalize tales about threats to the species and inform the public on how the Saguaro has all but disappeared from the Rincon Mountain District--a place where thousands once stood like a regiment guarding a country. 

Human sentiment will rise up like the bird into a cloud bank.  Our voices will continue to cry out loud like the screeches of a voracious Falcons circling high. Our fury should rumble like thunder from a far-off cloud.  To some, our voice about the Saguaro's plight will sound like a storm, to others, a great song.