The Mojave Desert Land Trust was host to a forum last night on visitation and tourism to the National Park.
Speaking on the panel was Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent Jane Rodgers, Morongo Basin Conservation Association (MBCA) President Steve Bardwell, and John Gardner from the National Park Conservation Association (NPCA). It was moderated by Chris Clarke – also of the NPCA and the podcast 90 Miles From Needles.
Photo by Robert Haydon
The forum began with Chris Clarke stating “we’ve got a problem” – which would be a running theme on the night as each member of the panel discussed the impacts the steady rise of tourists has brought to the hi-desert. Clarke spoke to the beauty of the desert, which is what many locals can appreciate about their environment – and that love of the desert’s beauty is what brings tourists out here, too – last year numbering over 3 million to the National Park alone.
Perseids tested National Park’s response to unexpected events
Jane Rodgers spoke about visitation numbers which are holding steady at about 3 million per year – with a slow but steady 1% rise – but also talked about “super events” such as the recent Perseids meteor shower which brought unprecedented numbers to the park. At the peak The Joshua Tree entrance saw 600 cars per hours, and the usually calm Cottonwood entrance ran 820 cars through its gates – with 800 cars per hour exiting the park at 3AM.
These type of events and their popularity are outside the park’s control – and with summer being the park’s “slow season” – Rogers admitted they were’nt fully prepared for the onslaught of visitors.
Just 4 people working the fee collection booths collected over $160,000 dollars that night – the biggest ever single day effort to collect fees in the park’s history.
Steve Bardwell of the MBCA spoke about about short term vacation boom starting in 2019 and its effects on the long-term rental market.
Just starting: panel and participants eager to explore issues in-depth
John Gardner from the National Parks Conservation Association also talked about the pending government shutdown and its potential impact on the park – using the last shutdown in 2019 as an example of how keeping the parks open amid a shutdown left some park maintenance and trash duty to local citizens.
While there were more questions posed than answers – audience and panel members showed a willingness to continue approaching the problem with more frequent meetings, with planned livestreaming for easier access for those who couldn’t make it down to last night’s forum.
Z107.7 will have more takeaways from the forum, including discussion about housing in the Morongo Basin and what the pending government shutdown could mean to our National Park.
