In a win for public lands, Arizona’s Saguaro National Park has increased in size by about 20 acres, following the acquisition of private land.
On December 11, the nonprofit Trust for Public Land (TPL) announced in a news statement that it had purchased the parcel bordering Saguaro from a landscape photographer named Thomas Wiewandt. According to the organization, the purchase will connect two areas through a vital wildlife corridor.
Saguaro National Park is split into two districts, the Tucson Mountain District and the Rincon Mountain District, roughly ten miles west and east of Tucson, respectively. The park is most famous for its saguaro cacti, the largest in the country, which can grow up to 50 feet tall. It is also a haven for desert wildlife, such as roadrunners, javelinas, bobcats, and gila monsters.
The 20 acres will be added to the park’s Tucson Mountain District. While small in overall acreage, this acquisition is significant because it connects Saguaro National Park directly to Sweetwater Preserve, a 900-acre area managed by Pima County. Conservationists say the addition will build upon existing hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian trails linking the parks.
According to the TPL, Saguaro National Park still has at least 74 inholdings, or privately owned plots of land located within its boundaries. Most of these parcels are small, some as tiny as three acres, but others are over 400 acres. Acquiring these parcels from their private owners, the TPL says, is crucial to the park’s health and longevity.
“If this land had been developed, it would have brought new roads, fences, and fragmentation,” explained TPL project manager Michael Patrick in a statement. “Instead, we’ve kept this landscape whole so wildlife can continue to move through the Sonoran Desert, just as they always have. And at a time of worsening drought, transferring private inholdings to the National Park Service also strengthens the park’s ability to manage wildfire and protect this ecosystem for the future.”
Particularly in arid landscapes like Saguaro, which faces significant wildfire threats, inholdings are problematic in that they make it more difficult for park management.
According to TPL, inholdings pose problems for public land managers overseeing arid landscapes, such as Saguaro National Park, because they make certain areas difficult to access and to conduct activities like controlled burns or aerial spraying for invasive species.
Founded in 1972, TPL has so far protected more than 4 million acres of public land across the United States. This latest acquisition marks the nonprofit’s sixth land purchase for Saguaro National Park since 2016, collectively increasing the park’s size by more than 2,300 acres. Saguaro now has a total land area of over 92,000 acres, including 165 miles of trails.
With dozens of private parcels remaining within the park’s borders, the fight to keep the Sonoran Desert whole is far from over—but for these 20 acres, the future looks secure.
The post This National Park Just Got Bigger—and Conservationists Are Calling It a Win for Wildlife appeared first on Outside Online.
