PHOENIX—Adam Vickers has spent years listening to the silent language of saguaros—reading their scars, treating their diseases, and healing their wounds.
Somewhere along the way, he came to believe Arizona’s iconic cactus is more than flesh and spines.
It has a soul.
As disease, relentless heat, and development continue to threaten the desert’s towering sentinels, he is racing against time to save as many as he can.
“If we don’t do something soon, we’re not going to be able to hold on to the saguaro—especially in the inner city,” Vickers, 47, said from the cool refuge of his Phoenix office as temperatures outside climbed to 118 degrees….