Flowering
0
Season closed in May. Counting resumes in February.
iNaturalist research-gradeobservations, 7-day window →
About the bloom
A big bloom doesn’t mean they’re doing well.
This year was a flowering year: 569 observations logged across the range between February and May. Flowering has probably become more common over the last century, because the Mojave’s rainfall and temperature swing harder than they used to.
The same swings are hard on seedlings. The conditions behind a big bloom may threaten survival and growth even as they boost flowering.1
Live conditions · four independent signals
observations, 7-day window →
Active fire
0
Incidents of 100+ acres inside a box spanning the range — not confirmed habitat. Largest: Last Chance, 74 acres.
NIFC / WFIGS currentincidents, ArcGIS →
Drought
D2
Severe drought or worse across 24% of the sampled range counties.
U.S. Drought Monitor,cumulative categories →
Legal status
Protected by a dedicated statute rather than an endangered listing.2
CA Fish & Game Code,read the statute →
These four are deliberately not averaged into an overall reading. A single composite number would change daily, look authoritative, and correspond to nothing any scientist measures.
The mechanism
The old trees hang on. New ones aren’t replacing them.
A Joshua tree can stand for a century. A seedling has one season to survive heat, drought, and heavy herbivory. Where the desert has crossed that threshold, the adults remain and the next generation simply never appears — stands of adult trees that look healthy but can no longer produce seedlings, destined to vanish once this generation dies.3
It varies by region, and it would be misleading to flatten that. Populations at the hot, dry southern and low-elevation edges are largely mature individuals with limited recruitment; northern populations are often surrounded by seedlings and saplings.4
The groves in the photographs are at the southern edge.
Recruitment, by region
SOUTHERN / LOW ELEV.
ADULT JUVEN. SEEDL.
→ NO MEASURABLE REPLACEMENT
NORTHERN RANGE
ADULT JUVEN. SEEDL.
→ STILL RECRUITING
Fire
Invasive grass turned open desert into a surface that carries fire.
Joshua trees have no adaptation to fire and burned stands do not regenerate. Two nights in the last six years removed more mature trees than any drought on record.
AUG 2020 · DOME FIRE 43,273 ACRES
Cima Dome, Mojave National Preserve — one of the densest Joshua tree forests anywhere. Mortality estimates run into the high hundreds of thousands.5
JUL 2023 · YORK FIRE 93,078 ACRES
Crossed from Nevada into the preserve, burning through New York Mountains habitat that had never carried fire at that scale.
Fixed by statute · never stale
When the public gets a say next.
These dates come from the law itself, so this section stays accurate with nobody tending it — no campaign list to rot, no newsletter to abandon.
0 DAYS UNTIL THE FISH &
GAME COMMISSION MUST
REVIEW THE SPECIES
GAME COMMISSION MUST
REVIEW THE SPECIES
A public meeting on or before 31 August 2026, reviewing the species’ status and whether the conservation plan is working — then at least every two years.2
Commission meeting agendas →RECURRING, INDEFINITELY
EVERY 1 JANUARY
CDFW annual status report
The only regular public accounting of permits issued and trees legally removed. Linked here the day it posts.
CDFW western Joshua tree →BY 1 JANUARY 2033
Updated status review report
The statute’s own scheduled reassessment of whether protection is working.
Read § 1927 →ANY DAY · NO DEADLINE
Comment on the conservation plan
CDFW accepts comments and new information at any time and considers them for recommended amendments.6
The conservation plan →Act · permanent channels only
Four contacts that should still work in ten years.
An unmaintained site cannot honestly rank charities or track campaigns. It can publish the standing points of contact where one person still moves the outcome.
01 · REPORT
Unlawful removal
CalTIP is the first point of contact for a possible violation. Photograph it, note the cross streets, call.7
(888) 334-225802 · WRITE
Into the plan
Comments accepted at any time. First-hand, local, specific observations carry the most weight.
WJT@wildlife.ca.gov03 · OBSERVE
Log a seedling
The 120-year flowering record was built from crowdsourced observations. Seedling records are rarer and worth more.
iNaturalist →04 · FUND
Buy habitat
Climate and fire aren’t solvable from here. Development is — and land held is loss prevented, not mourned.
mdlt.org →Sources · last verified SEP 09, 2026
- Yoder, Andrade, DeFalco et al., “Reconstructing 120 years of climate change impacts on Joshua tree flowering,” Ecology Letters (2024). doi.org →
- California Fish & Game Code § 1927 — Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov →
- Thomas, “A snapshot of Joshua tree stand structure in the eastern Mojave Desert,” bioRxiv (2026) — stem abundance and height across 62 plots. doi.org →
- Brahmsteadt, “Yucca brevifolia, Yucca jaegeriana, Joshua tree,” USFS Fire Effects Information System species review (2025). doi.org →
- NPS Mojave National Preserve — the 2020 Dome Fire. nps.gov →
- CDFW Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan — public comment. wildlife.ca.gov →
- CDFW CalTIP — reporting a violation. wildlife.ca.gov →