A group of veterans and students joined the California Wilderness Coalition, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) California, and Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) for a tour of Camp Iron Mountain, one of the best-preserved World War II training facilities from the 12-million-acre Desert Training Center (DTC) located in the Mojave Trails National Monument.

Mike Vensel and a car full of L.A. friends were driving through a typical Rancho Mirage suburban neighborhood. They headed east on Gerald Ford Drive, named after the late president who made the city his part-time home, turned left before The Versailles, an exclusive gated community, and zig-zagged past other upscale developments before somehow finding themselves on a dirt road.

The California Conservation Corps’ Veterans Conservation Corps joined the Conservation Lands Foundation, Mojave Desert Land Trust and Bureau of Land Management for clean-up and restoration in the Sand to Snow National Monument on Monday.

A nonprofit group has donated more than 3,000 acres of desert land to the Mojave National Preserve. The Mojave Desert Land Trust announced Wednesday that it had handed over ecologically and historically significant land to the park. The 110 parcels already are surrounded by the national preserve. They include juniper and yucca stands and a century-old homestead site.

It’s been an up-and-down month for Joshua trees in the region. At Mojave National Preserve in California, thousands of the iconic desert plants recently won permanent federal protection, thanks to a land transfer that added 3,100 acres to the park 90 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

The Mojave Desert Land Trust recently conducted a Free the Trees ceremony to celebrate the acquisition of the newly designated Bobcat Valley in Joshua Tree. Bobcat Valley comprises five land parcels totaling 50 acres and serves as a crucial wildlife linkage corridor for bobcats. The property also houses rich Joshua Tree forests and desert tortoise habitats.