Crowning the Queen of the Sonoran Desert: Tucson and Saguaro National Park by Marcus Burtner, University of Arizona 2011, contains history, images and maps, stories of wilderness, cattle and more... At first glance a history of the 'administration' of Saguaro National Park might seem unlikely as interesting reading but landscape, history, politics and people are always intertwined and the administrative history seems largely just a 'modern history' of the landscape of Saguaro National Park.
From the conclusion of the paper:
While the growth of the city deconstructed the desert environment in many ways, it was also a motor for creating today‘s Saguaro National Park. Looking back, we might say the initial establishment was the single most important act in the story. Without a NPS monument, we might have had a local park of some kind on 480 acres of cactus forest lands. Without a doubt, these acres would stand like an island amid development. Possibly, as bacterial necrosis knocked down the large saguaros, the University of Arizona‘s commitment to the site as a scientific preserve would have wavered. Perhaps the University would have used the lands as first intended: sale to fund the school. If, in 1945, Senator Carl Hayden had succeeded in removing the mountain from the Monument, would the NPS have lingered? Would the federal agency have had the funding to buy up private lands in the cactus forest? Would the Monument have remained at all? Once the cacti began to die what story would the rangers tell visitors? Who would visit? The NPS might have washed its hands of the project and turned full attention to Organ Pipe National Monument and other regional holdings. If SNM was gone, what would have happened to the Tucson Mountain Park after its leases lapsed in 1959? What institutional home could house this desirable real estate? What institutional coffer would pay to buy up land around its margins? This speculative game could go on ad infinitum but highlights the value of the initial proclamation and subsequent defense of the Monument.
This pdf can be found here and is listed along with other National Park administrative histories on this NPS History Page.
