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CNN Live Today

Prickly Issue Over Cacti Develops in Southwest

Aired March 18, 2002 - 12:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A prickly environmental issue developing now in the desert southwest. The majestic Saguaro cactus is vanishing in some areas from the landscape there. Natalie Pawelski on who is taking them and why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Saguaro cactus is a symbol of the southwest, a visual cliche slapped on margarita glasses and signs for Mexican restaurants. But walk up to one of these desert giants and you realize how impressive they can be. And it begins to make sense that a black market for cacti as yard art has grown. Supplying that market: cactus rustlers.

JIM MCGINNIS, ARIZONA AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT: If they go out and take the plant illegally and want to sell it quickly, then they can charge anything they want for it.

PAWELSKI: Some call Jim McGinnis a cactus cop. He enforces Arizona laws protecting Saguaros and other native plants.

(on camera): Saguaros only grow here, in the Sonoran desert of Arizona and Mexico. As cities like Tucson and Phoenix spread, cactus habitat shrinks.

(voice-over): To protect them from destruction and theft, Arizona has outlawed poaching, but does provide permits, sort of like hunting licenses, for people who want to rescue native plants that are in the path of development.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you can't just go out into the desert and start taking plants and trees. You have to have the consent of the land owner and permission from the state of Arizona.

PAWELSKI: Poachers who ignore those rules can make hundreds, even thousands of dollars per cactus.

MCGINNIS: It's hard to track because Arizona is so large. And anyone can go out and take one of these stately cactus and no one would ever know.

PAWELSKI: McGinnis remembers one prize Saguaro he tracked across state lines. MCGINNIS: And it was in Las Vegas with a price tag on it of $15,000. Now, if it's sold at that price, I'm not sure, but the individual stole the plant and he went to federal prison.

PAWELSKI: But on this day, a more legal relocation. A nursery crew rescues a Saguaro that's in the way of a new housing development. Saguaros don't grow arms until they have aged at least 75 years, but this one is probably still just a few decades old. If you still want that yard art and you have got some patience, you can also get Saguaros raised from tiny seeds in nurseries.

(on camera): Now, it's really strange to think that something as big as a Saguaro starts with these little, tiny seeds.

(voice-over): Talk about delayed gratification. Here's a Saguaro at one year old and at three.

DAN BACH, BACH'S CACTUS NURSERY: The center plant is the Saguaro. Hard to believe that that's the gigantic signature plant of the southwest.

PAWELSKI: Saguaros can live for a couple centuries or more, survivors of the days before this desert became a state, trying to survive the day when this desert becomes a suburb.

Natalie Pawelski, CNN, Pima County, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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