The Arboretum recently suffered a beauty setback when neighbors-to-be totally scraped the lot behind us.... knocking down Eric, formerly the largest and saguaro-est saguaro in the neighborhood. His remains lie moldering within our view.
Wikipedia says: Harming [a saguaro] in any manner ...is illegal by state law in Arizona, and when houses or highways are built, special permits must be obtained to move or destroy any saguaro affected.
I wish I could find a confirmation of that I could trust. Lisa and I are outraged and bereft from the loss. But what can we do?
Meanwhile, last Saturday when the big storm hit, our friends Karen and Dave Kelly at Sun Valley Growers were awakened by a blast of lightning and thunder right outside their window. They were talking a few minutes later when they were startled by an enormous crash, and then another one a couple minutes after that. When Dave went outside, he found that the lightning had hit the saguaro right up next to their house, which caused the arms to fall off, thoroughly crushing their rear awning. Fearing the rest might fall onto the house and harm them, he hustled the whole family over to their friend and business partner Ruth's house for the rest of the night.
The next day Dave, Karen and Ruth managed to top what was left of the saguaro, and got it to fall "safely" between their house and the potting shed. They cut it into sections and hauled to the back corner of the property.
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