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Saving the Beloved Saguaro Cactus BY ABDEL JIMENEZ
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Across Arizona and much of the Southwest, the saguaro cactus is admired for the way it thrives in the desert.
Saguaros are the largest cactus in the United States, and can only be found in the Sonoran Desert. These iconic green giants can grow up to 40 feet tall and live for more than 150 years. They are well-equipped to survive droughts by absorbing and storing rainwater. Saguaros can grow several arms, sometimes curled but often raised, in a never-ending manner of greeting residents and visitors.
Arizona law protects the plant. The native Tohono O’odham tribe treasures it. And several schools, businesses, and organizations use its name. But a changing landscape—one which is growing increasingly hotter and drier—are raising concerns about the saguaro’s ability to survive in the Sonoran Desert. Desert Botanical Garden, nestled in the buttes of Papago Park, is working to save these treasured desert plants and many others from natural and human-caused threats. Though visitors might be familiar strolling the Garden’s trails or attending holiday events like Las Noches de las Luminarias, they might be surprised to learn about the research and conservation projects that happen here. That includes saving the beloved saguaro. “Our iconic plant is really threatened right now,” says Steve Blackwell, conservation collections manager at the Garden. As wildfires blaze across Arizona, including the Telegraph Fire near Superior that burned more than 180,000 acres in June, the saguaro faces a serious threat. Wildfires can kill hundreds of them as the fire spreads. The Garden’s Ahearn Desert Conservation Laboratory, which opened in September 2019, is instrumental in
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preserving desert plants. Garden researchers can photograph, test, preserve, and germinate seeds of rare, threatened, or endangered species. If certain populations of plants diminish, researchers can use stored seeds in restoration projects to grow more plants and safely place them back into the wild. The facility was built after a generous donation from volunteer Susan Ahearn and her husband, Bill. “We use the seed bank in the seed lab as kind of our insurance policy against extinction,” Blackwell says. Cacti are the fifth most endangered organism in the world. Without these prickly desert plants, wildlife would lose a vital source of food and habitat, and the Sonoran Desert would look remarkably different if these plants went extinct. Since the early ’80s, the Garden has been collecting and maintaining seeds of rare, threatened, and endangered plant species as part of a national network of botanical gardens that founded the Center for Plant Conservation. But collecting seeds might be the easiest part for Garden researchers. Learning how to germinate seeds is trickier, Blackwell says. Some seeds only grow under certain environmental conditions. The endangered Arizona eryngo lives in a specific type of wetland in southern Arizona, called ciénagas. The plant is imperiled due its loss of habitat. Garden researchers were interested in restoring the population, and set out to grow these plants at the facility. But they were surprised when their first attempt produced little results. “About 5% were germinating,” Blackwell says.
