Joshua Tree National Park received some good news in August thanks to an announcement by the Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) that it had “purchased 40 acres of pristine desert within Joshua Tree National Park. The acquisition lies in an area where MDLT is helping preserve the border of the National Park.”

I’m a student who has lived in the Coachella Valley for my whole life, but only recently had the opportunity to visit and explore one of the Mojave Desert’s most beautiful yet little known places known as the Chuckwalla Bench. Chuckwalla Bench is part of the California Desert National Conservation Lands — public lands that are scattered throughout the southeastern corner of California.