Snow and rain have fallen on the hi desert, and although it didn’t stick around most elevations the mountains are socked in with plenty of fresh powder.
The rainfall is also good for our native plants, of course, but its probably too late in the season to make a difference for those seeking a superbloom. The California State Parks website has a post with some great comparison photos of the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve in different years. One with a deep orange blanket of poppies, the other – representing this year – more barren.
That doesn’t mean the desert will be devoid of color this Spring. We’ll soon see bright pinks popping out of prickly pear cactus, creosote will crack open their yellow flowers before transforming into their silverly seed states. My firecracker penstemon are already popping off with rich red coral flowers and Joshua Tree blossoms are waking up in the cool rain.
I have a few of our namesake trees around my house, more than “a few” according to the California Deparment of Fish and Wildlife. I’ve been thinking about the Western Joshua Tree a lot since I sat in on the information sessions they held this past Monday. During that session, they detailed the audit you’d need to do on your property if you were going to build or dig around a Western Joshua Tree, and the possible fees that could run into the thousands of dollars if you were to disturb multiple trees.
As defined by the CDFW, each stalk of a Joshua Tree is it’s own tree. So what I previously defined as one tree is really four or five, and I have one small Joshua Tree “forest” in the making with six different trees in various sizes sprouting up from the ground: from a full grown tree to an adolescent stalk all the way down to a few seedlings that have relatively recently taken root.
I love those trees and water them when they need it like all the native plants on my property. I’m in their space and not the other way around, and the biodiversity is one of the reasons I moved to the Mojave. But now I see my mini-forest as a potential pricetag that I couldn’t pay if I were to build near them as the trees are only a few feet from my home and an outdated fence I’d love to be able to replace someday.
During the presentation the CDFW also discussed Western Joshua Tree Transplanting, and I asked about the success rate of those transplants.
Drew Kaiser from the CDFW said that with proper aftercare, bareroot relocation were reported to have survival rates of 50-90%. Using a tree spade, however can have higher survival rates of 90% or greater.
Read: Can you donate Joshua Tree seedlings to the National Park?
Public written comment can be written to the CDFW staff via email, and there was plenty of comments during the first presentation on Monday. Most residents expressed their love of the tree but were weary of the fees being attached to them.
You can submit comments to CDFW staff to [email protected] or directly to Commission staff to [email protected]
Links and Resources
Western Joshua Tree Conservation at California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act Relocation Guidelines
