Sky Island Alliance Join the Next Saguaro Stewardship Experience

Following the success of the program’s launch this past spring, Sky Island Alliance and Saguaro National Park are teaming up again for the Saguaro Stewardship Experience — a six-part series of volunteer opportunities in one of our country’s most beloved parks. The program is a chance for all who are passionate about conservation to make a tangible impact. With guidance from Saguaro National Park staff, volunteers will become stewards of the land and learn how to restore native ecosystems.

Currently, there are six planned outings for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024. All will be on Saturdays with a meetup time of 8 a.m. at the Rincon District visitor center at Saguaro National Park East. You can learn more in this onboarding doc for volunteers, and you can sign up below for the various event dates.

A major component of this program will be invasive plant management, since non-native grasses like buffelgrass and fountaingrass are the greatest existential threat to Sonoran Desert ecosystems and species. They outcompete and displace native vegetation, use up precious water, and provide fuel for ever-increasing wildfires. As a volunteer, you will aid us in the removal of these species from threatened habitats throughout the park.

You’ll also have the chance to participate in other major park projects such as saguaro cactus studies, vegetation surveys, removing barbed wire fencing, reseeding, and restoring priority areas.

Saguaro National Park hopes to encourage long-lasting relationships within the park and broader Tucson community. By taking part in invasive plant management and ecosystem restoration, volunteers will play a vital role in ensuring that this fragile desert ecosystem thrives for generations to come. Together, we can work as stewards to help protect the native flora and fauna that make Saguaro National Park a symbol of the American Southwest’s natural beauty.

Both East and West districts of Saguaro National Park are located on the ancestral lands of numerous paleolithic and Indigenous peoples. Meanwhile, Tucson continues to be the home to the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui peoples.