Saguaro National Park – 2020 Saguaro Census

Saguaro National Park conducts a saguaro census every 10 years using citizen science. This effort is to help determine the health and vitality of the saguaro population. Sky Island Alliance is organizing 4 volunteer surveys this winter to help with their census.

This survey will be a shorter hike, expect to hike ~1 mile. If you would like to volunteer for a more adventurous but difficult survey please see the other survey events.

When and Where: We will be meeting at the Visitor Center for Saguaro East at 8 am and ending around 1 pm. From the visitor center we will carpool with a National Park employee and then hike to our assigned plot.

What to bring: We will be out hiking in the desert for several hours in places with out trails, so please bring the following:

1. Lunch and Snacks
2. Water: at least 2 liters
3. Backpack
4. Closed toed shoes
5. Sun protection: sunglasses, hat, sunscreen
6. Durable clothing: long pants

If these items are forgotten, you may not participate in the event, as per National Park rules to keep you safe.

What we will be doing? 

No prior experience in surveying saguaros is necessary. We will be hiking out to our plot assigned by the National Park and counting and measuring every saguaro there. Small saguaros will be measured with rulers and the larger saguaros will be measured with clinometers. All techniques will be taught by a Park employee while we are there. Additionally, we will count the number of arms and bird holes each saguaro has. We will all work together and learn a lot about these beautiful cacti!

Once we record our data it will be submitted and posted online on the Saguaro National Park website after the survey. We will share a link when they are up.

Click here to learn more about the Census on the NPS website