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STATE COMMISSION MOVES TO PROTECT JOSHUA TREES

With over 100 in attendance via Zoom, the California Fish and Game Commission pulled off an historical vote that enabled another layer of protection for the western Joshua Tree. Reporter Heather Clisby was (virtually) there …

In yesterday’s three-hour meeting, the California Fish and Game Commission unanimously approved the western Joshua Tree for the next stage of protection under the California Endangered Species Act. The vote set a new precedent within the law as it marks the first time that climate change was cited as the main threat to a species.

Increasing temperatures are forcing the Joshua Tree’s habitat northward with some foreseeing a Joshua Tree National Park without its namesake plant by the year 3000. Housing developers, realtors, community leaders and the solar industry has pushed back on additional protections citing state-mandated calls for increased housing and looming renewable energy goals.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will now study the species over the next year to see if the western Joshua Tree qualifies for “threatened” status.

The Commission then considered whether or not to grant an emergency exemption under section 2084 to allow for 15 new solar projects in Kern and San Bernardino counties despite their removal of the plants. The exemption was approved 3-1 with commission Vice President Samantha Murray voting against the exemption citing lack of details, such as the number of trees that will be destroyed or how much would be contributed to the Western Joshua Tree Mitigation Fund. (The Fund was created by the Commission to collect fees to offset damage by the 15 solar projects. Each project is slated to donate approximately $10K per acre for the purchase and preservation of the Western Joshua Tree habitat.)

“Declines are gradual, until they aren’t, right? We have seen that fires can make a big impact on our state’s landscape very quickly,” Murray said.

(The recent Dome fire in the Mojave National Preserve scorched over a million Joshua Trees covering 43,000 acres.) Murray also noted that in the 18 months since she as been on the Commission, it was the second time that the emergency exemption had been applied.

The world’s largest Joshua tree forest was severely burned during the Dome Fire. Courtesy photo

In approving the exemption, the commission cited the urgent need for renewable energy in the state and noted that the 15 “shovel-ready” projects had already completed the extensive permitting process required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The 15 projects would cover some 27,000 acres and contribute 10-20,000 megawatts of energy to the state’s power grid.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton “Chuck” Bonham weighs in on the protection of western Joshua Trees.

In support of the exemption, Chuck Bonham, director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, addressed the Commission:  “Climate change is real. It’s affecting California right now…”

“The process to consider protecting permanently western Joshua Tree under the California Endangered Species Act is underway. The very petition to protect those iconic native species argues that climate change is a primary threat to the survivability of the western Joshua Tree … This is an emergency not because of economics, but an emergency because of critical infrastructure development in a climate crisis.”

The 3-hour meeting required a break.

Prior to the vote, 36 people spoke their minds on the exception ruling with most calling for solar to be implemented at point-of-use areas, such as rooftops and parking lots. Basin resident Bonnie Hawthorne, whose own home is solar-powered, reminded the Commission of Nevada’s Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project which cost nearly a billion dollars and is now a non-functioning eyesore in bankruptcy.

Brendan Cummings, conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity and author of the original petition, commented regarding solar farms, “If you have to mow down hundreds or thousands of Joshua Trees, it’s a good indicator you’ve put it in the wrong place.” Still, Cummings begrudgingly accepted 2084 as a compromise he “could live with.”

Solar industry representatives spoke up as well, pointing to the recent surge in wildfires and rolling blackouts as more reason to ramp up solar. Shannon Eddy, executive director of the Large-Scale Solar Association said, “We need look no further than the last two months to truly appreciate that California’s grid is already operating at the margins of its’ capacity and more clean energy is needed as soon as possible.”

Timothy Krantz, a botanist and professor of Environmental Studies at University of Redlands, told the Commission that trans-location of the Joshua Tree has a fairly high success rate and a cost of $500 per plant. Director Bonham later stated that an incorporation of trans-plantation could be implemented on an experimental “watch-and-learn” basis.

Fish and Game Commission member, Jacque Hostler-Carmesin, said at the meeting’s conclusion, “While I agree that emergency regulation should not be the norm, I believe that this effort exemplifies the possibilities of working together.”

Eric Sklar, president of the California Fish and Game Commission, kicks off the meeting from his home in Saint Helena.
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