Doctor Bird
Saguaro cacti have become one of the most iconic symbols of the American West. They are remarkable because they are found in only one place on the planet, the Northern Sonoran Desert, spanning Central and Southern Arizona. Saguaros are masterful at regulating heat during the hot summer months and they can recover quickly as the temperatures in the desert drop substantially at night, creating the condensation that they need to survive.
Most of us think of the desert landscape as rugged and resilient , full of plants and cacti that have evolved to withstand some of the most extreme weather conditions. As the cities in Arizona are growing and more heat is being collected in the concrete sprawl, the evening temperatures are not fluctuating as they would naturally and coupled with the lack of life-sustaining monsoons the saguaros are beginning to respond by dropping arms and sometimes even blowing over and falling down. Last summer, the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, began the Saguaro Census Project which involves the community in tracking the location and health of saguaro cactuses in the city. A deeper understanding of the heat-stress on these protected figures may help save the ones that still grow naturally in the wild.
Meet Cate Bird, born and raised in Arizona, a forensic scientist and collector of fallen saguaros. “My back yard is filled with them, all in different stages of decay. When a saguaro falls in my neighborhood landscapers that would otherwise bring them to the landfill, bring them to me instead.” Cate has a natural inclination to meticulously dissect the bodies of these fallen cacti, labeling them and noting where they came from, how old they were, even giving them names. “ I find them beautiful and they all have a story.”
Cate ethically sources fallen saguaros and meticulously processes their wood
When Cate was a little girl she remembers hiking with her grandfather and finding saguaro boots (the hard internal shells created by the cactus to protect them from the wounds left behind by birds making their nests). "These were treasures, we were always so excited to find them.” Now in her forties, Cate has an interesting hobby that inspires her and she sees it as a way of giving back to this place where she was born.
The saguaros in Arizona are protected and it’s illegal to cut them down or remove them without a permit, or even to take dead saguaro wood unless it’s located on private property. Saguaro wood is fragile when it’s been baked in the hot desert sun and it’s hard to preserve the pieces and keep them intact, they often splinter and crack. Cate’s method takes months, meticulously processing the cacti by hand to deflesh, clean and preserve the bones of the saguaro which makes her pieces soft and unique.
We have a small collection of these treasures at PITH from her project she calls Doctor Bird, a perfect addition to our desert collection. Cate would like to donate 10% of all sales to the Natural Restorations Replanting Program and in Arizona, they work to replant saguaros and other cacti in their native habits, we would like to match that. Come by and see these special saguaro boots and structural wood pieces thoughtfully prepared for you through science and nature.