Hundreds of people attended the virtual meeting of the California Fish and Game Commission Thursday, August 20, to voice their opinions on a petition to have the Western Joshua Trees placed on the state list of threatened species. More than a hundred people spoke at the meeting, largely in favor of the petition, and eagerly awaited the final decision from the commission. Reporter Andrew Dieleman has the details…
A majority of speakers at the meeting, including Susy Boyd of the Mojave Desert Land Trust, showed great support for the petition, citing increased climate change and lack of enforcement of the county ordinance for the protection of Joshua Trees.
Opponents of the petition, including Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe, argued that the petition lacked specific population data, would interfere with renewable energy projects, and proposed that the county should work to strengthen its protection ordinance instead.
After nearly three hours of discussion and comments, the commission voted 4-0 (Commissioner Russell Burns recusing himself due to a potential conflict of interest) to table discussions on the petition until a special meeting in September, date to-be-determined. The commissioners agreed, however, that the Western Joshua Tree was a potential candidate for endangered species protection.
In the meantime, the department authorized the creation of a series of conditions under which a Joshua Tree could be removed while it is a candidate for protection (known as a 2084).
The commission also addressed an agenda item to increase protection status for the Mojave Desert Tortoise from “threatened” to “endangered.” With recommendation from department staff and overwhelming support from public callers, the commission voted unanimously to increase that protection status.
