We talk a lot about the Mojave desert – the Morongo Basin is plunked right at the southern edge of the expansive ecosystem that covers 20 million acres of our state. However, if you head into the park toward the south entrance, you start to see the vegetation and landscape change as you drop lower in elevation. That’s because you are entering the edge of the Colorado Desert which is part of the larger, drier Sonoran desert which stretches all the way into Mexico.
There is plenty to explore in the Colorado Desert and the National Park visitor centers have great exhibits explaining the differences between the two deserts that make up our National Park.
Perhaps the biggest difference is that large sections of the Colorado desert don’t have the same protections as the National Park just north of it.
A movement to create a new national monument in the Chuckwalla Valley would create and expand on wilderness areas, honor the homelands of indigenous people who have called the Colorado desert their home, and designate Mission Creek as a wild and scenic river.
The campaign is still in early planning stages, but you can read more about this nascent monument movement at the Mojave Desert Land Trust.
