Western Joshua trees, a protected species in California, are now the focus of a new plan from the state that aims to save them from habitat loss, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Joshua trees are an iconic sight in California's desert. Their jagged spines, furry trunks, and crooked clusters of fruit are relics left over from millions of years ago — but if left on their own in today's changing climate, they would likely not last much longer. Joshua trees are losing habitat due to human development, wildfires, and the rising temperature of the planet.
To fight that trend, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has developed a plan not just to protect existing trees, but also to set aside areas that it predicts will be hospitable to the succulents in a hotter, drier future, the L.A. Times revealed.
The plan also called for more effective wildfire protection for the trees.
"It's groundbreaking in that it's really the most comprehensive attempt done by the state of California or really any entity I'm aware of in the United States on how to manage a species that's clearly threatened by climate change," Brendan Cummings, conservation director of the Center for Biological Diversity, told the L.A. Times.
So far, the specific areas to be protected haven't been identified. But the plan lays out the criteria for which areas should be prioritized, including cooler, wetter conditions than the rest of the tree's range and a high population density of Joshua trees.
If accepted, the plan calls for the priority areas to be identified by the end of the year, and at least 70% of them to be protected by 2033.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife plan also suggested introducing new Joshua trees with genetic variations that make them more resilient to the heat and drought, senior environmental scientist Drew Kaiser told the L.A. Times.
Unfortunately, this will not be a straightforward action by the state. Many of the affected lands belong to the federal government. However, federal agencies have shown some initial interest, per the L.A. Times, and a coalition of government agencies and nonprofits is coming together to make this happen using $1.4 million in seed money from California's Wildlife Conservation Board.
Though the population of Joshua trees seems large now, it's important to act quickly. "The Joshua tree is widespread and abundant now, but you have all these pressures with development, with wildfire and then, on top of that, climate change," Kaiser told the L.A. Times. "That really is a death-by-a-thousand-cuts kind of situation."
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