San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
State resists protected status for Joshua trees
“California wildlife officials just proposed open season on Joshua trees.”
The otherworldly and iconic Joshua tree, subject of album covers, postcards and untold numbers of Instagram photos, could be listed as a threatened species in California to protect it from desert development and eventual extinction — but state wildlife officials have signaled opposition to the new status.
Next Wednesday, the state Fish and Game Commission will consider whether the twisted, spiky trees, which grow in the Mojave Desert and Great Basin in southeastern California, warrant protection as a threatened species under the state’s Endangered Species Act.
The Center for Biological Diversity sought protection for the western Joshua tree in October 2019, arguing that climate change, development and wildfires are setting the stage for the trees to become extinct. The commission agreed to accept it as a candidate for the endangered species list in September 2020.
State Fish and Wildlife officials acknowledge that the western Joshua tree’s habitat and population are on the decline and that the threat will only grow. But to the dismay of conservationists, they are not recommending that the commission add the tree to the threatened species list, saying there’s insufficient scientific evidence to support the move.
The designation would prevent Joshua trees from being chopped down, plowed under or replaced with tract homes or logistics warehouses — a danger in the fast-growing high desert suburbs like Victorville and Hesperia in San Bernardino County.
Since the western Joshua tree — Yucca brevifoli, a member of the agave family — was accepted as a candidate for the list, it’s been protected provisionally. Until a decision is
Conservation groups are seeking to protect the western Joshua tree under the Endangered Species Act, but state officials say there’s insufficient scientific evidence to give that designation.
made, or if the trees are added to the list, killing them is prohibited without a special state permit.
The commission has not hinted whether it’s inclined to add the Joshua tree to the endangered species list or to leave it to fend for itself.
A report from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife staff, done in preparation for the commission hearing, found that development and a changing climate will continue to reduce both the habitat and population of the Joshua tree, particularly in the southern areas of its range in the southeastern part of the state. Wildfires, which have increased in severity in the area, are also a threat.
Nevertheless, the department recommends the commission deny the western Joshua tree a place on the protected list.
“The scientific evidence that is currently possessed by the
department does not demonstrate that populations of the species are negatively trending in a way that would lead the department to believe that the species is likely to be in serious danger of becoming extinct throughout all or a significant portion of its range in the foreseeable future,” the department said in a report released in April.
“The department recommends that the commission find that the recommended action to list western Joshua tree as a threatened species is not warranted.”
Jordan Traverso, a spokesperson for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, told The Chronicle that staff research “determined that the (western Joshua tree) is relatively widespread and abundant.”
Conservationists have decried the department’s recommendation, calling it a death sentence for the western Joshua tree.
“California wildlife officials just proposed open season on Joshua trees,” said Brendan Cummings, conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity, which proposed the trees be listed as threatened. He made his comments when the report was released.
“Before state protections took effect,” he said, “developers were bulldozing these beautiful, fragile trees by the thousands to build roads, warehouses, power plants, strip malls and vacation rentals. If Joshua trees are to have any hope of surviving in a warming world, we have to stop the widespread killing of them.”
Cummings told The Chronicle that Fish and Wildlife’s response is flawed, lacking an understanding of climate change and how quickly it’s moving. He cited a statement in the department’s report noting that the department
Brendan Cummings, conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity
expects that any changes in where Joshua trees grow “will likely occur very slowly, perhaps over thousands of years.”
Cummings finds that assumption absurd.
“We don’t have even 1,000 years to save Joshua trees,” he said. “We have decades at most.”
Despite the Department of Fish and Wildlife recommendation, the commission will have the final say on whether the western Joshua tree is considered threatened and subject to special protections. Some cities and counties have ordinances protecting Joshua trees, including San Bernardino County, which recently increased fines for destroying Joshua trees to as much as $200,000. Some high desert municipalities and construction industry groups have opposed listing the Joshua trees, contending prohibitions will exacerbate housing shortages.
The western Joshua tree is one of two types of the tree, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, differing genetically from the eastern Joshua tree, which is located in a different part of the desert, and in the moths that pollinate them. At this point, only the western Joshua tree, which is solely in California, with 40% of trees on private, unprotected land, is being considered for the endangered species list.