The Mojave Desert Land Trust Fall Native Plant sale is happening today – and chances are if you are reading this after 10AM you might be too late. Each season’s native plant sale seems to grow in size and popularity, selling out fast as residents grab up beautiful native species that are easier to grow and maintain here in the desert.

Native plants are resilient in hot weather, requiring less watering and maintenance once they are established in the ground. Thriving from things that we have in abundance – like full year round sun, and surviving hot, dry years – even if they need a little help getting established at first.

The Mojave Desert Land Trust is holding its largest-ever native plant sale in Joshua Tree.

On Saturday, about 4,000 plants will be on sale, representingover 65 species, which are drought tolerant and well adapted to the Mojave Desert’s climate and soil, according to event organizers. New species on sale this year include bigberry manzanita, cattail, chuparosa, Palmer’s penstemon, southern goldenrod, and yerba mansa.

The death of longtime California Senator Dianne Feinstein, 90, on Thursday night, prompted a response from state, federal and San Bernardino County officials.

Feinstein, who planned to retire at the end of her term after facing concerns about her health and calls to resign, died at her home in Washington, D.C., according to her office.

Feinstein served as the U.S. Senator for California for 31 years.

Nonprofit conservation group the Mojave Desert Land Trust called Feinstein one of the California desert's "greatest champions," noting her work on protecting some of the most popular public lands in the California desert.

Following an earlier introduction by Senator Alan Cranston that didn't pass, Feinstein introduced the historic California Desert Protection Act that was signed into law in 1994. The legislation conserved nearly 9.2 million acres of public lands and established Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve.

In the Mojave Desert Land Trust office hangs a letter from Sen. Dianne Feinstein. In it, she recalls driving down Route 66 in the 1960s thinking people took California’s desert areas for granted as it was littered with old cars and discarded mattresses. She looked past the trash and marveled at the flora and fauna.

A $3.19 million expansion of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank will help conservationists tackle the urgent need for native seed to conserve the unique biodiversity of California deserts.

Desert ecosystems cover around one quarter of the state and suffer from significant drought, severe weather and precipitous loss of habitat and wildlife. A California Wildlife Conservation Board grant will support the expansion of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank, which is managed by the accredited Mojave Desert Land Trust from its Joshua Tree headquarters.