Flowering
0
Season closed in May. Counting resumes in February.
iNaturalist research-gradeobservations, 7-day window →
The thing people get wrong
The bloom is not evidence that they are fine.
This year was a flowering year: 561 observations logged across the range between February and May. Flowering has likely become more frequent over the last century — because the Mojave’s rainfall and temperature swing harder than they used to.
Those same swings are what kill seedlings. The trends that produce a spectacular bloom may threaten survival and growth even as they boost flowering.1
Live conditions · four independent signals
observations, 7-day window →
Active fire
4
Incidents of 100+ acres inside a box spanning the range — not confirmed habitat. Largest: Cottonwood, 97,464 acres, 90% contained.
NIFC / WFIGS currentincidents, ArcGIS →
Drought
D2
Severe drought or worse across 30% 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
Adults endure. Replacements don’t arrive.
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 is regional, and pretending otherwise would be propaganda. 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 the southern edge.
Recruitment, by region
SOUTHERN / LOW ELEV.
ADULT JUVEN. SEEDL.
→ NO MEASURABLE REPLACEMENT
NORTHERN RANGE
ADULT JUVEN. SEEDL.
→ STILL RECRUITING
The fast loss
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
The next moment a member of the public can be heard.
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.
37 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 will still be correct 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 JUL 25, 2026
- Yoder et al., Ecology Letters (2024) — 120 years of climate change impacts on Joshua tree flowering.
- California Fish & Game Code § 1927 — Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act.
- UC study on California native tree habitat loss (2026) — “zombie forests.”
- USFS Fire Effects Information System — Yucca brevifolia / Y. jaegeriana.
- NPS Mojave National Preserve fire records; NIFC final incident reports.
- CDFW Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan — public comment.
- CDFW CalTIP violation reporting line.