ORO VALLEY, Ariz. — It began with a flash of lightning, the fire that swept across the rugged Santa Catalina Mountains on Tucson’s edge. Some saguaros are still standing within the year-old scar of the Bighorn Fire, their trunks singed all the way up to their limbs, a testament to their reputation as masters of desert survival. Still, said Benjamin Wilder, an authority on saguaros and director of the University of Arizona’s Desert Laboratory in Tucson, the fire-damaged cactuses would likely have their life spans curtailed. “I don’t think there’s any more near-misses as we get to the point of much larger fires,” he said. Wildfires are just one of many threats facing saguaros, menacing not only the cactuses but the mesquite, ironwood and palo verde plants that protect them.

Source: New York Times August 04, 2021 06:56 UTC