Off the end of Dove Mountain Road north of Tucson is this dense collection of what appear to be fairly young saguaros. Many are upright poles without arms, a sign that they are young plants. Supposedly a saguaro gets its first arms when it is at least 60 or 70 years old. These plants live to be 200 years or more.
This "saguaro forest" might be a staging area for these cacti that have been relocated from a nearby golf course. Seeing them all together like this is a reminder of some of the old photographs of what the landscape looked like before cattle grazing, development, weather, and disease destroyed the cactus forests of southern Arizona.
Protected areas like Saguaro National Park and other wilderness places assure the survival of this unusually distinctive southwest plant.
No comments:
Post a Comment