An environmental group is asking the state to protect Joshua trees, citing climate change and habitat destruction. Yesterday, (October 15, 2019) The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Fish and Game Commission to list the western Joshua tree as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act. Researchers at UC Riverside found that only 19 percent of Joshua Tree National Park’s Joshua tree habitat will survive past 2070, even with efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Joshua trees are moving to higher elevations, with cooler climates and moister soil, while adult trees in hotter, drier areas are struggling to produce offspring. The study found the young plants that are produced are not surviving. Protection means the state would create a plan to save the species, provide proactive management of Joshua trees on state park lands and call for more scrutiny of projects proposed for property with Joshua trees. The petition focuses on western Joshua Trees (which stretch from Joshua Tree National Park west along the northern slopes of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, through the Antelope Valley, north along the eastern flanks of the southern Sierra Nevada and east to the edges of Death Valley National Park and into Nevada.) The state commission is expected to vote on the petition during a public hearing next year.
