Grant Will Help Support Joshua Tree National Park’s Rare Plant Program

Joshua Tree National Park will be able to enhance its Desert Plant Restoration Program thanks to a new grant from Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, a federally recognized Indian tribe located on the San Manuel Indian Reservation near Highland, California. The grant offers $25,000 to support the park’s rare plant program.

The rare plant program aims to document, protect, and preserve Joshua Tree National Park’s rare desert plant species, including those with medicinal, scientific, and cultural significance. The program will involve systematic monitoring, data analysis, volunteer engagement, and the development of a comprehensive conservation plan for rare plants.

In the long-term, it is hoped that the program will contribute to the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

“We are grateful to Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation for their investment in community wellbeing,” said Jacqueline Guevara, executive director of Joshua Tree National Park Association. “This grant will allow us to protect and preserve rare desert plant species, helping build a stronger, more resilient ecosystem for future generations.”

The annual desert milkvetch has a global distribution constrained to unconsolidated sand ramps and dunes at elevations less than 350 m within Inyo, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial counties in California. It barely reaches into western Arizona and northwest Mexico. The herbage is covered with distinctive silvery, silky hairs and it has a large, 1-chambered fruit. The white (sometimes pink-tinged) flowers can be seen between February and April. In JTNP, it is only known from one population of fewer than 10 individuals on the southeastern edge of the Eagle Mtns. It is threatened by industrial-scale renewable energy development, off-road vehicles, and Brassica tournefortii.

There are 54 rare plants in Joshua Tree National Park, including the triple-ribbed milkvetch, a short-lived perennial herb and the park’s only federally endangered species; the alkali mariposa lily, whose distribution is mostly contained within a narrow region in the western Mojave Desert of California; and Parish’s daisy, the only federally threatened species in the park.

According to the Park Service, most of the plants are threatened beyond the park’s boundaries by mining, off-road vehicle use, industrial-scale solar development, and increasing urbanization. Within the park, hydrological alterations, trampling, grazing, and fire suppression activities threaten the plants.