The following is an original production of AZPM News.

(Tom) This week on Arizona Illustrated, meet a group saving the Sonoran Desert one cactus at a time.

(Dick) We're not afraid of getting stuck by spines.

We enjoy it.

We're crazy!

(Tom) Building and maintaining our hiking trails is more work than you might think.

(Steena) I never really hiked or camped and accepted a job to be put up on a mountain for six months.

It literally changed my life.

(Tom) Being an artist who's bringing the beauty of the Sonoran Desert to walls all across the city.

(Ignacio) I'm trying to encourage young artists to become muralists.

I think Tucson's a great breeding ground for that.

(Tom) And you may recognize this plant, Stinknet.

Learn why you want to get it out of your yard in landscaping.

(Tony) It is a horrible, noxious weed.

Hello and welcome to Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

First up, the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society has put one mission, and that is to save and protect cacti and other succulents.

In fact, since their founding in 1999, they've saved over 120,000 plants.

So now we see their members in action working on a very large, important project.

[music] (Steve) We're going to start with a little Charlie Brown saguaro that we're going to take to Waterman and then the second one is about three and a half foot.

It's about on the upper end of his range and it's just beyond that palo verde at the property line.

And we're going to go just a little bit west of that and we'll find that plant.

All right, let's do it.

(Dick) When cactus people close their eyes and think about what heaven looks like, this is it.

Starting in 1999, we started working with developers as they have an area that they want to develop in their homes, schools , et cetera.

They call upon us to come in prior to them doing any blading, and we rescue all the small plants, the plants that they would never consider taking out.

We also take out any saguaros that they'll let us have.

(Steve) So now we just wind the maypole.

(Donna) Let's go this way over by the cholla maybe.

We have to get permits from the Arizona Department of Agriculture and we have to get tags.

(Grace) My grandparents bought this property in 1946, it was originally 160 acres and they built one home towards the west side of the property.

But then one day my grandmother counted twelve cars on the road and that was just too much.

So instead of relocating, they built a second bigger home further back on the property in 1966.

My dad and his brother were both born in Tucson and grew up on this property, and my sister and I were both born in Tucson and grew up on the property.

So it's been three generations of us to live here.

(Claire) I don't think most kids have this much space to run free so there's definitely lots of exploring the desert building forts.

(Grace) We've definitely had to run from javelina a time or two.

The property is being sold to a developer of homes.

So what you see around us all this desert is going to be turned into ranch style homes.

It's going to be a big neighborhood.

But we are keeping five acres of it.

Every time we've come back on the property It has changed so much and more and more plant life has been cleared out and it looks completely different.

And it's hard to look at because it's just not the same as when we were little, and we know that it's going to be unrecognizable pretty soon.

So we're thankful to have pictures and memories as it is going to change quite a bit.

[power tool noise] (Steve) All right, so we're right here.

Okay.

And so we're doing this narrow.

It's going to be a sewer line.

Gotcha.

The boundaries are not well marked.

OK, you're going to have to give it your best guess.

And then once you take the plant, remove the flag and so everybody else doesn't come out of there looking for it .

I coordinate the training out in the field.

I have about six folks that work with me.

They're designated to monitor the boundaries, help people with the technique of rescuing the plants so that the plants will have the best chance of survival after transplant.

They're instructors, as well as safety enforcers, so they help people know how to do all of this without any injuries.

(Dick) All the rescue people know that if I don't bleed on a rescue, it's not very good.

We're not afraid of getting stuck by spines.

We enjoy it.

We're crazy.

There's no getting around it.

(Steve) This one is so light that Dick normally throws this over your shoulder and walks out.

(Dick) My favorite cactus, of course, is the queen of the night the Peniocereus greggii.

Sometime in June, it starts producing a flower.

Fairly large blooms at night attracts moths.

It's a fascinating plant, and it really just excites everybody because of its beauty when it blooms and it's its lack of of anything when it's not in bloom.

(Steve) They're very hard to spot.

They look like a dead stick.

[power tool noise] So the first part is like a little archeology dig here.

Oh, here it is.

See that how I scratch it a little bit right there, the dirt.

They'll excavate all around it and then they'll come in from the side and they'll carefully brush the dirt off of the tuber.

That looks like a little elongated turnip.

And then the connective top is so fragile that then when they do take it out of the ground, they'll carry it like a baby back to make sure that it doesn't break away the tuber in the top.

This year, they bloomed over about a three week period.

In one microclimate they'll all bloom at the same time.

That alone is enough for an excuse to get out and walk in the desert at night and have a margarita after and just enjoy June in Tucson.

[music] (Steve) Shall we?

(Donna) So it's really cool because I'm looking at these saguaros in my pickup truck this morning and saying, Hey, guys, wait until you see what your new home is going to look like.

And it really is spectacular.

The saguaros that we rescued at the construction site, we drove them out here.

We're out at the Waterman restoration site and we're planting the three saguaros that we rescued.

And then they have new homes and they have a spectacular view of the mountains.

It's really a lot of fun to plant them.

And the other thing is that we can come visit them because this is public land (Dick) We are the largest local cactus and succulent society in the world, and we've rescued over 120,000 plants in the last 22 years.

(Steve) There's a good number of people that just come out and want to make sure that all native plants we can get find a home.

We don't want to see them bulldozed.

We want to see them transplanted somewhere in the Tucson area and saved.

Have you ever wondered who builds and maintains the trails you hike?

Well, next we'll meet up with a trail crew from Saguaro National Park and we'll follow along as they work and talk about what drew them to this challenging and rewarding career.

(Ren) We're at the Saguaro National Park trail crew shop.

This is where we keep all of our tools, things that we need for the day, everything we need to do the job, sort of our home base.

(Ren) It's 7:13 right now, we work 7 to 5:30, four days a week.

It's nice to have a long 10 hour days.

Sometimes you have a long hike out to get to your project site, and then we get three day weekends.

(Ren) Today we're going to the Cactus Forest on the east side of Saguaro National Park.

The main challenge of this project right here is carrying material to our work site.

So we have our Cany Coms, our motorized wheelbarrows.

We work on a lot of backcountry projects which are further up in the mountains and those could be like 10 miles, 20 miles from a paved road.

So usually in those cases, we source our materials on the spot.

And we would do that even here, but there's a lot of archaeology in this part of the park.

It's a very sensitive area, so we are using materials that are not sensitive.

(Ren) This trail is very trenched.

Because it's formed a trench, it's also become a drainage.

So every time it rains, every year as it gets more and more traffic, it erodes and trenches deeper and deeper.

We're putting in log checks in this area to try to keep the soil from eroding away.

In this section, we're placing a check every 15 feet.

Sort of done the math to figure out that that's gonna give us our best rise over run to retain the most soil without creating giant steps for people to go over.

This is where the next one's gonna go.

I'm gonna dig out a little bed for it and then lay our log in.

After the logs go in, we'll fill in front and behind with crushed rock, but small little pieces of rock.

Really secure the log where it is, and then over that, we'll lay fill dirt to really make a nice smooth ramp.

(Neal) My favorite things are my crew that I get to work with every day and just being out in a very nice place, just doing really nice work.

(Neal) There's definitely some days where it's just like, why are we doing this?

Where it could be really crappy weather and everybody's just in a really poor mood.

The main reason I've been doing this for so long, I think, is the social aspect.

You get really close with your crew really fast.

You're camping together, you're living together, you're seeing each other at your best and your worst.

It's unavoidable and you can't just peace out at the end of the day and if you've got co-workers, you don't like.

I think that's tested me the most and also where I've seen the most growth in myself.

I had never really hiked or camped and accepted a job to be put up on a mountain for six months.

And it literally changed my life.

I didn't wanna do anything else other than be outside and work really hard, get really dirty and live with a group of strangers that end up becoming your family.

If you don't know this guy, if you haven't met him, you should.

This is Ignacio Garcia, one of Tucson's most beloved and cherished muralists.

Has about 40 murals around town and has the goal of turning Tucson into an outdoor gallery.

He uses walls as his canvas to tell the stories of this community.

♪ SERENE GUITAR MUSIC ♪ (Ignacio) People that come and visit Tucson, first thing they say is they've never seen murals like this before with the quality, the vibrancy, and I think that's probably why what I'm trying to do is to kind of reflect what Tucson really is all about.

Just telling the story of the community.

♪ SERENE GUITAR MUSIC ♪ I would consider myself the third generation of artistry.

My grandfather was a carpenter.

He used to do a lot of woodwork.

I have an uncle that was a designer.

Just being exposed by that creativity and that family being so free-minded in that way.

Yeah, I think it's just in my blood.

I drew a lot.

I loved to sketch.

I always try to create my own little paints, whatever I could do I think painting was like a meditation to me, you know.

It was a way to kind of escape the world and kind of go into my little fantasy world.

I just remember being in school and seeing a box of pastels in the trash and I like looked at that.

I'm like, what is that?

And I looked at it and I just took it home and just kind of started off with that.

I was dumpster diving, definitely for sure on that, yeah.

I've been told like, do you have a gallery?

It's like, actually I do.

They're like, where?

It's all around downtown.

And that's the goal is like you're walking into a library of art in the public and you're actually seeing like oh I never thought that the desert could be so colorful.

Here we're approaching the uh empowered woman.

It's one of those murals that get a lot of attention and a great way to kind of represent women and Tucson So it has a lot of cool elements about this piece.

So there she is.

I try to make it look as timeless as possible.

without making it dated.

So that's another thing too like trying to balance that out that it can hold time.

Compile all these ideas into one.

There's a lot of thought that went through.

But yeah you can see it.

I have like family descents from the Sonoran Desert.

So from here from Mexico all the way to the United States.

So it's like home like the Sonoran Desert is like in my blood.

It's like very extreme but yet again beautiful.

And that's how I kind of describe my paintings.

It's like the first thing you look at is the beauty of it but you dive in even deeper there's a lot of extreme elements to it.

Here's La Guitarista.

So this one I finished this last year.

And it took me a month to paint this.

We had a hawk here.

I'm like maybe six feet away from the wall You know you get these hawks going right in between me fast with pigeons and stuff.

And so and they get bird poop you know.

So this is yeah it's pretty it's pretty wild.

Before I painted this it was another mural that I did.

It's like a tattoo you know.

You get a tattoo and then sometimes you want to cover it up and it gets old.

It's the same It was there for eight years you know.

And then after that we decided to go something uh- something traditional and colorful.

And even when it starts fading I think it's going to give it much better to kind of give it more a classical you know like a vintage vibe to it.

♪ WESTERN INSPIRED GUITAR MUSIC ♪ And when I paint I have to listen to music constantly I cannot have it quiet.

So in fact if I have to work on a subject that's like like a western theme.

I like to listen to like western music you know even Tejano music.

I have to country music.

You transform your mind and you're part of that imagination Somehow you're just you start connecting the dots consciously and you start like okay maybe I need to intensify the color more orange more southwestern and sure nothing kind of goes to that.

It was quite an experience emotionally I think because overall the people's response especially the the true native of Tucson to see them really reflect who they are.

That was something very special and emotional for me.

This is one of the teachers that comes and sees my work every day with the with the students.

And what do they do every day?

-They clap they clap -Yeah -They love it.

I just found out last week I did a little presentation for these preschoolers and then towards the end I get this little tug on my shoulder on my shirt and they're like "hey you know my little brother's name after you" I'm like oh that's cute and the teacher comes and she's like "yeah it's true.

Her mother named her son Ignacio because she's a big fan of your work."

I'm like whoa it still kind of throws me off but I'm flattered you know but it's cute.

And she's all happy she's like "my little brother's name is Ignacio."

So I'm going to be finishing up today or tomorrow and then that's it -So proud of you.

-Thank you.

I do like music I know I would have I would have been involved in music for sure.

I did my tattoo experience for many years too but I I fulfilled that but if it had if I had no creativity I don't even know what I'll be doing.

It's sometimes, especially this one, it's really hard to take pictures, especially when the sun is above it.

But right now it's actually perfect to kind of look at it.

So there it is.

The Running of the Piñatas.

And I love this right here.

Do not enter.

My name is Val, and I'm on a wall.

You know that my dad don't tall.

I'm the son of Ignacio Garcia, and I'm on a wall.

He takes me out to the basketball court, and I'm like, okay, this is kind of interesting.

He's like, act like you're running.

We did it about like eight or five times, and my dad was like, if you don't get it right, I'm going to have your cousin do it.

He really was going to do it.

It was a total surprise.

(Ignacio) Over here, Val.

This way.

You did that?

(Ignacio) Who's that?

Myself.

(Ignacio) Come here.

I'm surprised.

I hate my chancla fell off.

How do you even do that?

(Val) If I ever want to brag about myself, I'll just be like, yeah, well, I was on a mural.

(Ignacio) He has something very unique that's completely on his own.

I'm a big fan of his work.

I'm that way.

Yeah, in fact, he sold already a few paintings because of his creative mindset.

So he's the fourth Ignacio.

Yeah, my grandfather is Ignacio.

My dad is Ignacio.

They're all in the middle names.

So my name is Jose Ignacio Garcia.

I never knew that until I was in second grade.

I swear to God, true story.

Yeah, I got called into the principal's office for something.

I'm like, am I in trouble?

Like, no.

It's like, "so Jose, you" need-- it's like, I'm looking back.

It's like, who's Jose?

And then I run home.

I'm like, tell them.

I was like, is my name Jose?

And he goes, "oh, yeah."

I'm like, what?

[MUSIC PLAYING] That's the goal is that you want to be distinct for your own style.

Allowing yourself to try new elements, it creates a new, completely new idea, new style, and that's what makes you stand out from the rest.

We have this diversity of culture that we kind of support each other with no hesitation.

It's just like, we just embrace that.

That's the coolest thing about Tucson that I love.

Overall, it's the community.

I mean, I'm just blessed to know that we all work together.

We all help each other out.

I'm trying to encourage young artists to become muralists.

I think Tucson's a great breeding ground for that, and I want to encourage anyone to come to Tucson and and paint a mural.

I want to see more, more art, more public art, more artists, more different styles of techniques and ideas.

As for here, I got my assistant here too, trying to teach her how to paint, and she's very determined, and so anyone that's very determined more than happy, they can call me I'm more than happy to help and give some advice and tips all that.

So whatever I can do to kind of speed up the process to kind of be creative.

I'm a big believer there's going to be even better artists than me, and even in a unique style than no one's ever seen.

So I'm trying to scout out and see what is out there and whatever I can do to push them out.

I think Tucson would be a great place to be known in the world that, like, if you want to be the muralist, got to go to Tucson.

That's where you're going to get the best of the best.

So that's my goal.

♪ GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING ♪ The Sonoran Desert has thousands of native plants in all shapes and sizes that make this a unique bio region.

But many non-native plants do well here as well and become invasive and then compete for very limited resources such as water.

[ BIRDS CHIRPING ] (Tony) Here we are today talking about Stinknet, Oncosiphon piluliferum It is a horrible, noxious weed that, as you can see, is uh, readily invading this vacant lot.

The way to identify it, it has sphere-shaped inflorescence that are lacking any type of petals, and each one of these sphere heads has the capability of dropping another hundred-plus seeds.

There are other lookalikes that you might notice in Tucson in the spring, but if you see something that has a sphere head and no petals at all, that is the invasive Stinknet.

It has oils in the leaves that produce allergens, can cause rashes or blistering, and then allergens produced from the pollen itself can cause headaches and uh, has been shown to cause asthmatic reactions.

(Eddie) My name is Eddie McPheeters, and I live right over there on the corner of Lee and Alamo There wasn't anything here last year.

If there was, it wasn't-wasn't really noticeable at all.

And then all of a sudden, this year, here it is, all over the place, overnight, just overnight.

These people have been coming in here and-and giving it a bad time.

They've been cooling it, they've been cutting it.

Now I guess you're gonna spray too now, aren't you?

Yeah.

My conversation with a fellow from Phoenix yesterday was telling me, he's a nurseryman up there, and he's telling me that, yeah, it's bad, you know, really bad, so that's what we know.

(Tony) It's from South Africa, and the name "Stinknet" is actually an Afrikaans word.

When goats forage on it, it ruins the flavor of their meat and their milk.

It's an unwanted plant wherever it grows, even in its homeland.

It did go by some other common names of Globe Chamomile, and that was one of the reasons why it spread so much in the Phoenix area.

People had this misunderstanding of what this plant was, and they were selling it, giving it away at farmer's market, and just allowing it to spread like wildfire, and now it's pretty much conquered a lot of the Metro Phoenix area.

We're trying to prevent this from spreading throughout the Tucson region.

We have a website called stinknet.org that is dedicated to tracking the spread of this plant specifically.

You can go to that website, pull up the map, see if it's growing anywhere near your neighborhood.

Then you can go out and-and join the army of the active citizens of Tucson, in going out there to remove this plant.

(Eddie) There's always been some grassy weeds out here, but never nothing like this at all, I mean, just unreal.

(Tom) Before we go, here's a sneak peek at a story we're working on.

Let's go back right here, okay?

With Broden out, everybody go back to where you were.

(Mike) For a lot of them, it's a pinnacle of their athletic career.

So it means a lot to them.

Some of them, it's the first time that they're playing on a stage where they get recognition.

It's the first time that they're getting accountability and they get to showcase their skills for a university like ours.

That goes a long way in an individual's life.

Possibilities and opportunities that it gives disabled people to just get out of their bedroom or just to have the confidence to say, "I can do something."

It's life-changing.

(Ben) Being able to insert myself in a wheelchair basketball team and meet people who were just like me was super cool.

I knew it was my space.

Thank you for joining us here on Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara, and we'll see you again next week.