Delayed mortality : saguaro cacti are still dying 10 years after wildfire !

Figure 1. Scenic vista looking east toward Four Peaks, on the Mesa District, Tonto National Forest, AZ. Unfortunately, over the last three decades fires burned large portions of mature saguaro-shrub habitat, often leaving landscapes devoid of centuries old behemoth cacti (Narog et. al. 1995, 1999, Wilson et. al. 1995a, 1995b, 1996). According to TNF fire records, over 30 percent of the saguaro on the TNF was decimated from more frequent and larger fires that occurred in the 1980s and early to mid 1990s (Fig. 2).