Saguaro Park vandalism admitted

The National Park Service said it had heard from Beau Campbell and Colton Salazar, acknowledging their role in the vandalism, after the Park Service released their photos and they were posted on many local media outlets' Web pages on Monday.

The two men, whose ages were not released, were captured in surveillance photos late on the night of May 23, when the vandalism occurred along the first half-mile of the Douglas Spring Trail. A saguaro and two barrel cacti were hacked, their tops sheared off, and a palo verde lost several branches.

Campbell and Salazar contacted the National Park Service independently, one on Monday, the other on Tuesday. They identified themselves and are cooperating fully with investigators, Park Service officials said Wednesday.

The men "expressed remorse - they saw themselves on the news and felt they should own up to it," said Andy Fisher, a Saguaro National Park spokeswoman.

"We take all of our protection cases very seriously. That's what national parks are here to do - preserve and protect resources for future generations," Fisher said. "It seems a minor incident in the grander scheme of things. But it's actually very important, and we take it very seriously."

At the same time, the Park Service will ask a federal judge to order the suspects, if convicted, only to pay to replace or restore the damaged plants.

Federal law authorizes a prison sentence of up to six months or a $5,000 fine for such an offense.

The two were not taken into custody but will face an initial federal Magistrate Court appearance at a date not yet set, Fisher said.

Federal regulations ban "destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, digging or disturbing" plants in a natural park.

The Park Service placed the surveillance cameras in the area after a May 11 incident in which someone sprayed graffiti on cacti and rocks on the same trail.

Authorities don't have any reason to believe the two men knew about the previous incident, let alone had anything to do with it, Fisher said.

"The two incidents don't appear to be related," Fisher said.

Asked why a stiffer penalty isn't going to be sought, Fisher said Park Service officials feel that what's important "is that we are able to make that restoration happen, to fix what had been damaged. I think these guys felt enough remorse about the incident that authorities don't feel they need to seek stricter penalties."

She declined to respond to a question about whether a stricter penalty might better deter future potential law violators at the park.

"I don't know if the park has an opinion on that," Fisher said.

Environmentalist Kevin Dahl of the National Parks and Conservation Association said Wednesday that part of him "wants to see the book thrown at them. It was a very heavy offense, but I'm not judge and jury. I don't know all of the details of the case. … What was going through their heads?

"I hope they got the idea and the world gets the idea that we love our saguaros and that we really get upset when they get cut down on a popular hiking trail," said Dahl, the park group's Arizona program director.

The three cacti that were hacked in half and knocked over can't be restored - "they're too far gone," Fisher said. As for the palo verde, "it sounds like a couple of branches on it were damaged. I bet that tree looks funny, but I think it's going to survive," she said.

The saguaro was 4 to 5 feet tall, and the barrel cacti were 2 to 3 feet tall. The restoration cost wasn't known Wednesday night.

Overall, it's "really out of the ordinary to have damage on the trails," Fisher said. "I was just talking to maintenance guys at the park today, and the only trend I could get was that springtime increases the overall graffiti load. I don't know if that's because of more people or because the weather is nice."

"We take all of our protection cases very seriously. That's what national parks are here to do - preserve and protect resources for future generations. It seems a minor incident in the grander scheme of things. But it's actually very important, and we take it very seriously."

Andy Fisher, a Saguaro Park spokeswoman

Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@azstarnet.com or 806-7746.