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The state has released a comprehensive plan to ensure the survival of western Joshua trees ahead of their potential endangerment.
Joshua trees are an important species both culturally and ecologically in the Mojave Desert, but due to worsening wildfires, land development, and climate change, they face the threat of losing a significant amount of suitable habitat. In an attempt to ensure their survival, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife released an in-depth plan that will kickstart long-term conservation efforts for the iconic species and its ecosystem.
Joshua trees are an easily identifiable succulent that grow on land inhabited by California Native American Tribes who value the plants for their symbolism and a variety of traditional and medicinal purposes. The plants also provide vital habitat and sustenance for multiple members of their ecosystem, including approximately 25 bird species, insects, and some mammals.
California’s new plan will permanently protect from development the habitat that supports the western Joshua tree, including land that is potential climate refugia — areas where, researchers predict, species can survive when conditions become increasingly more unfavorable because of climate change.
The state also intends to collaborate with California Native American Tribes in the management of Joshua trees and their habitat, honoring their Traditional Ecological Knowledge and holistic stewardship practices. Further, the plan calls on government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels to develop or strengthen strategies to mitigate the threats Joshua trees face.
Today, the plants are abundant and sprawl across the open areas of the Mojave Desert, but according to Drew Kaiser, senior environmental scientist at the Department of Fish and Wildlife, climate models show that only about 23% of the Joshua tree’s range in California will be able to support its growth in the future, as our climate gets hotter and drier.
Threats to the species are not limited to future circumstances, either. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, an estimated 1.8 million Joshua trees have been killed by large wildfires since 2020 and thousands were bulldozed for the construction of solar panel fields.
Joshua trees may be widespread now. But Kelly Herbinson, executive director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust, insists that it is never too early to enact conservation efforts. “We won’t be able to protect them once there’s few of them left,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “We have to be thinking about it from a proactive approach.”
