"Climate change, drought, and fires — all caused or worsened by human activity — are rewriting the future of ancient Sonoran saguaros."

"Ask a roomful of kids to draw a desert and odds are good that most of their drawings will include a saguaro cactus, waving two friendly (albeit prickly) arms.

Despite the endearing ubiquity of that image, it’s not a sight you’ll actually see in most of the planet’s 71 deserts. In fact, the only home to the tree-like saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) is the Sonoran Desert, which stretches across southeast California, the southern half of Arizona, and the northwest states of Mexico.

“Saguaros are such an icon of this area, of the Southwest in general,” says Beth Hudick, interpretation, education, and outreach manager at Saguaro National Park in southern Arizona. “If you close your eyes and picture a cactus, it’s a saguaro.”"

Karen Mockler reports for The Revelator January 27, 2025. [2]