The Saguaro
The Native Americans felt it was human.
Then it grew into a plant.
After seventy years an arm or two.
Then a celebration . . . a song . . . a chant.
© Forrest W. Heaton April 2023
Visit. The Sonoran Desert lies in what is now the north of Mexico, Baja California, and the south of Arizona. A small portion of this unique land which has come to define at least part of the American west, approximately 91,300 acres, has been set aside as Saguaro National Park in Tucson Arizona. Mary & I were able to visit this April for four days my undergraduate college roommate and his wife, Rick & Kathy Smith, who live in Tucson. Rick and I have maintained a close relationship all these years. As I’ve told our kids, I don’t think we’ve ever shared a bad word. Smith is a thirty-three year NPS employee, now retired. After retirement, he helped Latin American countries develop their own National Park Services and now runs a list-serve operation keeping Park Service retirees informed on current issues. During our visit, Rick & Kathy took us to, and explained, the Saguaro National Park. Timely is an understated word for this visit.
Geology. Approximately seventy million years ago a volcanic caldera cycle created the Tucson mountain range and most of the other mountain ranges in Arizona. The Rincon range developed via both volcanic activity and fault blocking activity beginning approximately fifty million years ago. A volcanic caldera is essentially the remains of a very large collapsed volcano. Dinosaurs, camels, and saber tooth tigers roamed the area.
Pronunciation. The word Saguaro means giant cactus. In English it is pronounced “swar-ro,” with the accent on the first syllable. Essentially you replace the “g” with a “w.”
“People Of The Sonoran Desert.” (Introducing each paragraph is a word or two in bold. If it doesn’t have quote marks and isn’t in italics, it’s ours. If it has quote marks and is in italics, it’s the Park Service’s in their brochure available in the Visitor’s Center.) It is believed the first people who descended from the humans who migrated across the land bridge from Siberia came to the Sonoran Desert around 10,000 BC. These peoples, like the plants and animals, learned how to adapt to desert extremes for thousands of years. Then, in the 1500’s, Europeans, particularly Spanish explorers, came. Later the peoples changed again as Europeans moved westward from the U.S. east coast, made land claims, built cattle ranches and then consolidated. In 1933, to preserve a portion of the valley between the Rincon range to the east of Tucson and the Tucson range to the west of Tucson, under the Antiquities Act, president F. D. Roosevelt declared 62,000 acres of the valley a national monument. In 1994, the national monument became a national park. This national monument to national park transition has happened more than twenty-four times before in U.S. history. The Saguaro National Park is split into two districts: one on the east side and one on the west side of what since 1775 is/has been Tucson Arizona.
“Desert Floor To Mountain Forest.” The National Park ranges from 2,100 feet to 8,600 feet providing challenges for plants, animals and people to survive. The Park Service describes the landscape as “multicolored.” This was particularly true as our visit was the first week of April and the winter rains had brought Spring blossoms of the wild flowers into glorious bloom. As for winter, it can snow over one hundred inches annually at the high elevations. The Sonoran Desert is home to approximately sixty animal species, three-hundred-fifty bird species, twenty species of amphibians, one hundred species of reptiles, and thirty species of native fish. Most Americans have never seen these species. They are amazing to see. And so close! And predators such as wildcats and mountain lions walk around just to keep you on your toes, particularly if you are on one of the park’s backcountry trails.
“Survival Under The Sun.” The north-to-south running Tucson mountains approximately twenty kilometers west of town create a weather barrier from west-to-east winds from the Pacific ocean. The heat from the sun is captured and remains in the valley formed by the Rincon mountains twenty kilometers to the east of town. This creates the Sonoran Desert in which many plant and animal species thrive. Humans choose to live there as well due to the warmer winter months although the extreme summer heat and less available water can cause some difficulty. As the Park Service advises: Saguaro “seedlings have the best chance of survival when sheltered by ‘nurse trees’ like mesquite, ironwood, or palo verde.” Saguaros initially grow slowly, approximately an inch annually the first eight years. After approximately seventy years they can sprout arms. At one hundred fifty years they achieve full growth of forty to fifty feet. Saguaros collect water via one main root and many almost surface level small roots that go out in all directions approximately the height of the tree. In July, the ruby-red fruit that grows at the top of the tree ripens and is ready for harvesting by humans to make jam, syrup and ceremonial wine. Birds and animals eat them as well. Saguaros often live to one hundred fifty to two hundred years or succumb to lightening, freezing wind or lack of water.
Water. Let’s talk briefly about water. Fresh water, nationwide, is an issue. In the far west of the United States, including Arizona, it is a precious issue. For the most part, seven states get their water from either rain, snow or the Colorado river. Extraordinary twenty year western droughts and extraordinary people usage are causing the Colorado river to dry to the current dramatic shortfall—the river is estimated to be running at 20% lower than usual. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the final reservoirs, are less than one-third full. The issue of fresh good quality water in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico is a growing emergency. It remains to be seen how well the governments of those states (as well as farmers, homeowners, and homeowners associations) deal with 1) climate change, 2) water usage. There is a lot riding on the outcome.
We wish you safe travels and joyous national park visits!
If you wish to visit the Saguaro National Park website, go here: https://www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm