MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — If a tree falls in the forest, we won't know whether it makes a sound. But if a Saguaro falls in the desert, Tucsonans will make noise about it, especially if that saguaro is centuries old.
One Saguaro stood for around 200 years on the Tortolita Preserve Trail… It earned the name “Strong-Arm” for being 40 feet tall with 34 arms.
“It was like this overseer of the desert here,” said Janise Witt, Marana resident.
Witt could look at the old cactus from her backyard everyday. So when she heard that Strong-Arm had fallen, she couldn't believe it.
“I feel like it's probably how a lot of people felt in this community that love the Saguaros and saw what seemed like such a strong living being just fall down,” Witt said.
Marana’s Natural Resources Supervisor says a monsoon storm with winds going 50 miles per hour broke the cactus, but it wasn't just the weather that caused its fall.
“We had a Saguaro expert come and take a look at Strong-Arm and the expert immediately recognized that Strong-Arm suffered from a bacterial infection so it was compromised before the storm struck,” said Jason Grodman, Marana’s Natural Resources Supervisor.
The storm left Strong Arm’s base intact, but its 34 arms now lay on the ground around it. Grodman says he plans to leave them there.
“As it decays the nutrients will go back into the soil, it’ll provide shelter for small bugs and ants," Grodman said. "It really will continue to be a part of the preserve for years to come.”
And so, the cycle of life in the desert continues.
“I know it’s passing from what we remember it - but I don’t believe that it’s gone forever," Witt said. "I feel it will recede and become little baby saguaros.”
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