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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature: Joshua Tree


Joshua Tree National Park offers visitors endless opportunities for exploration and discovery. Joshua Tree National Park is located in southeastern California. Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act, it had previously been a U.S. National Monument since 1936. It is named for the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) forests native to the park. It covers a land area of 789,745 acres  or 1,234 square miles, an area slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. A large part of the park is designated to wilderness area, some 429,690 acres. Straddling the San Bernardino County/Riverside County border, the park includes parts of two deserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the higher Mojave Desert and lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains run through the southwest edge of the park.
Joshua tree found in Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is popular with the more thoughtful traveler, since there is no spectacular central attraction as is the case with many other Southwest parks, just many square miles of wild, unspoilt desert scenery. Two factors make the park special; the eerie, spiky Joshua trees which grow densely in the western half, and the extensive outcrops of huge granite boulders, up to 100 feet high, which line the mountain ranges scattered over the whole area. Other prime attractions are six oases where California fan palm trees grow in their natural surroundings, all reachable by trail. This is not a place just to drive through, instead visitors should explore for a while away from the roads - climb some rocks or walk amongst the trees and cacti, but most of all spend a night here and watch the sun set. The Joshuas are especially atmospheric and spooky at dusk, when their stark, irregular outlines become quite menacing. Joshua Tree, formerly a national monument, was promoted to a National Park in 1994, along with nearby Death Valley. Besides the trees, rocks and oases, the park also has many hiking trails, a network of 4WD routes, several historic sites and half a dozen picturesque campgrounds.
Humans have occupied the area encompassed by Joshua Tree National Park's nearly 800,000 acres for at least 5,000 years. The first group known to inhabit the area was the Pinto Culture, followed by the Serrano, the Chemehuevi, and the Cahuilla. Projectile points found along an extinct water channel in the Pinto Basin represent the earliest known human occupation of this area. Dated from four to eight thousand years ago, this Pinto culture was first described by amateur archeologists, William and Elizabeth Campbell in the 1930s. The Campbells believed that there had been a river flowing through Pinto Basin but more recent research by geologists dispels the notion that there was either a river or a lake in Pinto Basin by the time humans occupied the area. The points collected by the Cambells are thick and triangular in shape, with notched shoulders and a broad stem. Pinto hunters attached the points to a wooden spear shaft and used a spear thrower, or atlatl, to propel the spear. Based on the relatively large number of Pinto points, as well as cutting and scraping tools, compared with the few seed-processing implements found at these early sites, it is believed that Pinto Culture was a mobile population dependent upon large game hunting and seasonal plant gathering.
Joshua National Park in California Nature Joshua Trees, Yucca brevifolia, grow in the Mojave Desert of southwest California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, at elevations from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. The Joshua Tree, the largest of the yuccas, grows only in the Mojave Desert. Natural stands of this picturesque, spike-leafed evergreen grow nowhere else in the world. Its height varies from 15-40 feet with a diameter of 1-3 feet. Originally thought to be members of the Agave (Century Plant) Family, the Joshua Tree and other yuccas have been reclassified as members of the Lily  Family. Two variations of the Joshua Tree are classified as J. brevifolia var. herbertii and J. var. jaegeriana. Joshua Trees, along with most other yuccas, rely on the female Pronuba MothJoshua Tree fruit  for pollination. No other animal visiting the blooms transfers the pollen from one flower to another. In fact, the female Yucca Moth has evolved special organs to collect and distribute the pollen onto the surface of the flower. She lays her eggs in the flowers' ovaries, and when the larvae hatch, they feed on the yucca seeds.
Without the moth's pollination, the Joshua Tree could not reproduce, nor could the moth, whose larvae would have no seeds to eat. Although an old Joshua Trees can sprout new plants from its roots, only the seeds produced in pollinated flowers can scatter far enough to establish a new stand.

Mormon pioneers are said to have named this species "Joshua" Tree because it mimicked the Old Testament prophet Joshua waving them, with upraised arms, on toward the promised land.  Ranchers and miners who were contemporary with the Mormon immigrants also took advantage of the Joshua tree, using the trunks and branches as fencing and for fuel for ore-processing steam engines. The Cahuilla Native Americans who have lived in the southwestern United States for generations still identify with this plant as a valuable resource and call it "hunuvat chiy’a" or "humwichawa". Their ancestors used the leaves of Y. brevifolia to weave sandals and baskets in addition to harvesting the seeds and flower buds for nutritious meals.
 
 
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