The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has announced a new plan to protect the state’s iconic Joshua tree, which is threatened by wildfires, human development and climate change.
The 294-page draft plan includes calls to avoid or minimize direct and indirect impacts from overgrazing, pesticide use and unauthorized off-road driving. Relocating trees when a project requires their removal or could cause harm to the trees. and to identify and protect the lands where they can thrive in a predicted drier and hotter future.
“In many ways, this is what we have to do to help Western Joshua trees survive a very difficult situation for decades to come,” said Brendan Cummings, conservation director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. “This is an excellent plan that comprehensively summarizes the following.” The group petitioned in 2019 to list the Western Joshua tree as an endangered species under the state’s Endangered Species Act.
The conservation plan is a requirement of the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act passed last year, the state’s first law protecting the species from the threats of climate change. The law also prohibits killing, damaging, or removing trees without state permission.
The plan lists criteria and attributes that help identify lands that should be prioritized for conservation, such as large areas of Joshua trees or areas with high densities of healthy mature trees. It also suggests protecting areas with low risk from threats such as fire, invasive species and development, and where pollinators such as moths and small mammal seed dispersers are present. The goal is to identify these lands by December 2025 and permanently protect 70% of them by 2033.
The plan also requires land managers and wildfire responders to develop protocols for mitigating and extinguishing wildfires that threaten species and their habitat, and to minimize the impacts of restoring burned areas. It also calls for the development of countermeasures. This includes protecting trees, replanting lost trees and other native species, and controlling invasives.
But, as the draft plan points out, their effectiveness and the survival of trees will depend on humanity’s ability to reduce global warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas, which are responsible for climate change. Much depends on whether it can be restricted and reduced.
Cummings said in a business-as-usual scenario, climate change could wipe out most, if not all, of the tree’s habitat.
“Assuming we can maintain a moderate emissions trajectory, if we do everything outlined in this plan, we have a very good chance of saving the species,” he said. “And mainly, it’s about doing what we can to protect as many people as possible.”
The draft plan must be approved by the California Fish and Game Commission.
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