On Friday’s Up Close Show, the Yucca Valley town manager and mayor were asked about why the town opposed a petition to the California Fish and Wildlife Department to list the Joshua tree as a threatened species. Managing editor Tami Roleff fills in the highlights of their response…
“It’s not that the town is against Joshua trees. Obviously we cherish and really look forward to a community that’s based on our natural environment.”
Town Manager Curtis Yakimow said that if the Joshua tree becomes protected as a threatened species, the state regulations would become onerous for property owners who want to develop their property. Currently, residents are required to get a free permit from the town if they want to cut down or move a Joshua tree, something that Yakimow and Mayor Jeff Drozd say will become much more difficult if the trees are listed as threatened, as the property owner may have to engage a biologist and get a permit from the Department of Fish and Game.
“For those reasons, very practical reasons, the town will always stand up for the ability of our property owners to be able to maximize the use of their property. Everyone loves the Joshua tree; it’s iconic. How do you manage, how do you navigate, how do you ensure that somebody can use their property as they desire?”
Drozd added that the way to preserve Joshua trees is not for state regulations, but through private agencies purchasing the land to save it.
“Places like the Mojave Desert Land Trust that purchased land ahead of time before someone wants to build on it—to me, that’s real conservation, that’s the way you should conserve. Private property and town property, stopping construction projects, we don’t know what’s going to happen with this. It’s kind of an unknown and it’s based on global warming actually, rather than loss of land and Joshua trees.”
