WEBVTT 00:02.033 --> 00:04.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Here in the United States, the national parks belong to all of us. 00:04.300 --> 00:09.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But as Tyler Fingert from the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University 00:09.133 --> 00:13.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% reports, that shared treasure is at risk of being chipped away. 00:13.133 --> 00:18.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% TYLER FINGERT: Across the desert landscape, their silhouette is unmistakable. 00:18.000 --> 00:23.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% At Saguaro National Park near Tucson, cacti are the main attraction for hikers like Jean 00:24.066 --> 00:26.166 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% Gascho. 00:26.166 --> 00:28.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JEAN GASCHO, Hiker: You feel like you're so much a part of the desert and just surrounded 00:28.933 --> 00:31.800 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% by these beautiful cactuses. 00:31.800 --> 00:35.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% TYLER FINGERT: But the park's namesake cactus is facing a threat from thieves. 00:35.400 --> 00:38.366 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% KEVIN DAHL, National Parks Conservation Association: It's ironic that we set aside great places 00:38.366 --> 00:42.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% like our Saguaro National Park, and people think that they can just come take the iconic 00:42.766 --> 00:44.800 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% cactus for which the park is named. 00:44.800 --> 00:48.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% TYLER FINGERT: Kevin Dahl works with the National Parks Conservation Association. 00:48.933 --> 00:51.900 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% He says being a cactus thief can be lucrative. 00:51.900 --> 00:55.066 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Each one can fetch $100 or more per foot. 00:55.066 --> 00:59.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% KEVIN DAHL: It's absolute robbery, and it's absolute criminal activity. 00:59.933 --> 01:02.100 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% And it's for profit. 01:02.100 --> 01:06.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% A mature saguaro in a landscape adds something to the value of the home or the business that's 01:07.200 --> 01:09.266 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% for sale or rent. 01:09.266 --> 01:11.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% TYLER FINGERT: Across the country, other parks are facing a similar threat. 01:11.300 --> 01:16.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Last year, Death Valley National Park says some visitors walked off with fossil footprints. 01:18.133 --> 01:20.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% At Joshua Tree National Park, people have stolen artifacts from old mines. 01:20.200 --> 01:22.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% BILL PARKER, Petrified Forest National Park: Some parks deal with people taking rocks. 01:22.233 --> 01:26.033 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Some parks deal with people taking plants and animals. 01:26.033 --> 01:29.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Places like Mount Rushmore, people take the chips that were created when they created 01:29.733 --> 01:31.833 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% the sculptures. 01:31.833 --> 01:34.733 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% TYLER FINGERT: Bill Parker leads the Natural and Cultural Resources Team at Petrified Forest 01:34.733 --> 01:36.200 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% National Park. 01:36.200 --> 01:39.600 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Here, he says, visitors take small pieces of petrified wood. 01:39.600 --> 01:44.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% BILL PARKER: Some people do still take wood, and we catch them and give them tickets. 01:44.566 --> 01:48.100 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% But whole areas aren't being stripped clean, as was thought in the past. 01:48.100 --> 01:53.066 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% TYLER FINGERT: The park turned to photography to test the theory, taking century-old photographs 01:54.733 --> 01:57.066 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% and comparing them to recent photos taken at the same location. 01:57.066 --> 02:01.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And the results, says Parker, if you look at photos from today, most of the artifacts 02:01.633 --> 02:03.633 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% are still intact. 02:03.633 --> 02:06.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% BILL PARKER: It's a souvenir that people want, but one thing the photography project has 02:06.833 --> 02:08.933 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% showed us is that most people do the right thing. 02:08.933 --> 02:13.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% TYLER FINGERT: Some people have even returned stolen wood, and it ends up here, often referred 02:13.300 --> 02:15.300 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% to as the conscience pile. 02:15.300 --> 02:19.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Back in Saguaro National Park, to help make sure theft doesn't happen, the National Park 02:19.533 --> 02:24.533 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Service has turned to technology, putting tiny passive trackers in some of their cacti, 02:26.000 --> 02:28.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% allowing them to identify ones stolen from the park. 02:28.433 --> 02:33.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Of their roughly 1.9 million saguaro cacti, only 1,000 of them are tagged, the ones close 02:34.900 --> 02:38.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% to roads and the smaller cacti, those most likely to be stolen. 02:38.433 --> 02:43.433 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% The trackers, which are similar to pet microchips, don't actively broadcast a signal, so if a 02:43.433 --> 02:48.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% cactus goes missing, Ray O'Neil, Saguaro National Park's chief ranger, says the only way to 02:48.133 --> 02:52.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% know if it's from the park is to scan it using a reader, making the trackers more symbol 02:52.733 --> 02:55.266 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% than substance. 02:55.266 --> 02:57.433 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% RAY O'NEIL, Chief Ranger, Saguaro National Park: Our biggest hope is that it's a deterrent, 02:57.433 --> 03:00.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% that people recognize that if they steal cacti from Saguaro National Park, that there's a 03:00.366 --> 03:03.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% chance that we're going to be able to identify that cactus came from the park. 03:03.400 --> 03:07.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% TYLER FINGERT: While technology is helping to track natural resources, education is still 03:07.800 --> 03:10.800 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% a huge part of keeping parks pristine. 03:10.800 --> 03:15.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And Kevin Dahl wants to make sure that visitors understand the national parks are saved by 03:15.133 --> 03:17.133 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% the people for the people. 03:17.133 --> 03:21.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% KEVIN DAHL: It's a selfish thing when someone does an act of vandalism or steal something 03:21.333 --> 03:22.800 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% from a national park. 03:22.800 --> 03:26.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And it's selfish and it's an act against the American public. 03:26.333 --> 03:31.333 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% TYLER FINGERT: Pieces of American history being taken from some of America's most treasured 03:31.800 --> 03:33.833 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% land. 03:33.833 --> 03:36.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Tyler Fingert at Saguaro National Park in Arizona.