Save Our Saguaros
Help us save saguaros and the animals that call them home. From what? Buffelgrass and fountaingrass! These invasive grasses smother young saguaros and fuel fires that can kill both young and old saguaros alike. Most of our native plants are not adapted to fire. In contrast, buffelgrass thrives on fire. This is one of the major dangers of buffelgrass. If a fire occurs in an uninvaded desert setting, it burns out quickly, but if fire starts in a buffelgrass-invaded desert, it will spread rapidly as far as this fire-loving grass will carry it. Become a saguaro steward when you join us at one of our invasive plant pull events.
Invasive Grasses Increase Wildfire Risks in the Sonoran Desert
In August 2019, lightning ignited a buffelgrass fire in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The left image, taken by a firefighter on the scene, captures a saguaro whose base is engulfed in flames fueled by buffelgrass. Thanks to our firefighters, and to the rain that fell soon after, this fire grew to only 25 acres. The right image below shows the scene two months post-fire.
Buffelgrass fueled fires can convert a rich desert ecosystem into a barren buffelgrass grassland almost overnight. If left unchecked, buffelgrass, and its close cousin fountaingrass, will fuel larger, more frequent fires in the wildlands that surround the city of Tucson, impacting not just saguaros, but all of our native desert plants and the animals that depend on them.
Left: Buffelgrass — Right: Fountaingrass
But with the help of our community, we can keep buffelgrass and fountaingrass in check. So what can you do to help?