The Orange County Register: Controversial plan takes shape to protect Joshua trees from climate change, fire and development
As important as it is to save Joshua trees, Kelly Herbinson, executive director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust, said there’s more at stake.
“Our policy is often written for individual species,” Herbinson said, with the “charismatic” Joshua tree an easy choice to single out for protection. “But, in reality, we know that’s not how ecosystems work.”
Species rely on each other, with everything from moths to owls to woodrats dependent on Joshua trees for survival. Thousands of species also share the same Mojave Desert habitat as Western Joshua trees. And Joshua tree woodlands lock away carbon, keeping it from getting into our atmosphere. So by protecting Joshua trees and their habitat, Herbinson said, “We’re also protecting that tightly knit web of an ecosystem at the same time.”
And, she notes:
“We are part of that ecosystem. We rely on that ecosystem functioning.”