Continued harvesting of saguaro fruit in national park by Tohono O'odham gets OK

Members of the Tohono O’odham Nation will be allowed to continue harvesting saguaro fruit and cholla buds at Saguaro National Park in accordance with their ancestral traditions, park officials said this week.

A new National Park Service regulation required that an environmental assessment be conducted on gathering of plants by Indian tribes before the practice could continue.

Upon completion of the assessment, the director of the Park Service’s Intermountain Region signed a finding that the gathering has no significant impact on Saguaro Park and therefore can go on.

“We realize that the current engagement of the Tohono O’odham people with the lands of Saguaro National Park is an important part of their cultural heritage, and that’s part of what the park is here to protect,” said Scott Stonum, chief of science and resource management for the park.

“Based on the way they harvest and the relative small quantity they harvest, we feel it’s very compatible with the operation of the park,” Stonum said, noting that harvests took place long before the park was established, originally as a national monument, in 1933.

Tohono O’odham officials welcomed the decision to permit continued harvesting.

“The saguaro fruit harvest brings families together every year to celebrate our cultural heritage,” said Edward Manuel, chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

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“This fruit has also been a critical source of sustenance for thousands of years so we appreciate that the national park will continue to welcome this important O’odham tradition.”

Stonum said the environmental assessment was conducted over the last year and the “process did not identify any substantial impacts from their activities.”

Members of the tribe use poles constructed from the ribs of dead saguaros to harvest the fruits, Stonum said.

“They are allowed to collect a minimal amount of those ribs in the park,” he said.

Stonum said the harvesting typically takes place in June and is expected to begin soon.

“Usually one to three family groups harvest in the park, but it varies from year to year,” he said.