It started in 1941 when park rangers spread out into what was then called the Saguaro National Monument and began counting and measuring the saguaros (Carnegiea gigantea) within specified plots of land. Nine years later, they returned to those same plots–some as large as two football fields–and took a second census. And the official Saguaro Census has continued every ten years since. At last count the estimate, based on the census, is that there are over 1.9 million of these iconic cactus within the park boundaries.
With the 2020 Saguaro Census now underway the National Park Service is looking for Citizen Scientists, especially clubs or groups and even more especially groups of people who have had experience hiking in the desert, to help count cactus. And it isn’t only huge ones like you see in this photo, that you, as a Citizen Scientist, will be searching for, the NPS wants you to find and gps the tiny new ones, too.
If your club or group is interested in volunteering, you can get more information on the NPS site or contact don_swann@nps.gov
And why is Carnegiea gigantica the botanical name for saguaro? It was named after billionaire industrialist Andrew Carnegie, whose Carnegie Institution established the Desert Botanical Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, in 1903. In 1933 the area now called the Saguaro National Park was initially designated as a National Monument. Saguaros also thrive across the border in Mexico where there are some large forests of them.
