PHOENIX — You can get involved in making a difference in our Arizona landscape by helping to document our state’s iconic saguaros.
Tania Hernandez is a research scientist at the Desert Botanical Garden. She said they are making a push for their second year in a row to collect data for their "Saguaro Census."
“The project aims to understand the effects of stress, urban stress on saguaros and so the idea is to monitor overtime the more stressed one,” said Hernandez.
She added you don’t have to take the perfect photo or have the most accurate location in order to help with this mission.
“You don’t have to be a great photographer,” said Hernandez.
Hernandez added a bad observation is better than no observations. She said the app which they use to gather the information uses geo-locators from photographs to help pinpoint where the saguaros are located.
In this case, they are looking for documentation of urban saguaros. This means the ones in your neighborhoods, shopping centers, and by your local streetlights. She shared these observations should not include saguaros which are located in parks and protected lands.
To get involved you can download the app called ‘iNaturalist’ in your phone’s app store. It is free to use, but you will need to make an account.
Once you do, you can search under the ‘Projects’ section on the far bottom left for ‘Metro Phoenix Saguaro Census’ and start submitting what you see.
She said make sure to get detailed shots of any blooms or damage you see on the saguaro.
Hernandez shared they hope to gather data so they can track the health of saguaros and see how they change over time. They also plan to monitor some specific cases by adding sensors to cacti if they receive permission from the owner.
Hernandez said you can make an observation all year long, not only in the month of May.
She said last year they received about 8,000 observations and this year they hope to have even more.
For more information you can visit the Desert Botanical Garden’s website.
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