The Saguaro Solution: Can replanting cacti restore an ecosystem ravaged by fire?

Left wild you end up with heather growing over a metre deep in some places, and then a thunderstorm at just the right wrong time will set it all off, and then you've got thousands of acres of burning oily woody stuff that you simply cannot extinguish.

But hey let's just bang on about "greedy farmers burning away all the wildlife for grouse moors". Pretty sure I'd have seen at least one grouse shoot in 40-odd years of living in the area.

(source: I moved and planted saguaro professionally for like 5 years).

Another note (in case anyone is interested). I experimented a lot with germinating saguaro seed back in those days and found a method that produces high germination rates.

I fermented the seed within the crushed fruit with a little sugar and water for a week or so. Then dried the pulp and extracted the seed. Then put the seeds in a water bottle with a handful of sand. Then put water in the bottle and shook it vigorously for 10 minutes or so. Then poured it out and dried it. I planted the dried sand/seed together because it was hard to separate out the tiny seeds. Plant very shallow. Mist several times a day and keep the tiny seedlings well shaded with filtered light.

Small saguaro need a "nurse plant" i.e. they will start under a bush with filtered light, and by the time they are big enough to poke through they can handle full sun (4 or 5 years).

I think this method somewhat duplicates passing through an animals digestive tract, then the action of being tumbled over rock and sand during torrential seasonal rain.

It's a common misconception that the desert is barren with scarce vegetation. Saguaro habitat can include areas which are almost continuously vegetated, including palo verde and mesquite trees and all manner of grasses, shrubs and smaller cacti. There's a good pic in the article of an unburned area that shows this (about 1/3 down the page). Even in less vegetated areas, seasonal rains can cause bursts of growth that then dry out and fuel fires. Certain invasive species exacerbate this issue, as mentioned in the article.

1-2 foot chunks sectioned from a saguaro trunk will quickly die. The plant's "spongy interior" mentioned in the article will dry out if cut like this. Mature cactus can be transplanted but require special care and support as it takes a long time for them to get rooted. I'm not sure if saguaro arms or larger sections can be transplanted independently as "cuttings". Even if it's technically possible its not common as the mature plants are extremely slow growing and relatively fragile. There are also some state laws around removal and destruction of saguaros that would likely restrict a plan like this.