Last updated: October 6, 2023
Article
National Park Service to Establish Charismatic Megaflora Seedbank
NPS Photo - Anna Campos
If the Joshua tree is added, it will be the first species with the threat identified as climate change. "It's a big deal because it could open a pathway for other things that are directly impacted by environmental changes," said Drew Kaiser, botanist at Mojave National Preserve.
Regardless of an official listing as an endangered species, the National Park Service has embarked on a project to collect Joshua tree seeds for a seedbank that could be used to restore the tree to burned areas within refugia– areas currently occupied by Joshua trees that are likely to remain suitable habitat for the trees in a warmer future. Banked seeds could also be used to plant trees in areas that become suitable habitat in the future that do not presently support Joshua trees.
The Joshua tree is in a precarious position, its historic range threatened by a changing climate, extreme drought and wildfire. One of the largest wildfires in the Mojave National Preserve was the 2020 Dome fire which devastated 43,000 acres of one of the largest and most dense Joshua tree forests in the world. This led to multiple Joshua tree restoration projects within Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. One of the methods that is being explored to restore the Joshua tree population is assisted migration.
Assisted migration in the context of the Joshua tree restoration project is the collection of Joshua tree seeds from a wide range of populations and planting those seeds in different areas to produce populations with certain qualities– such as drought tolerance. "The theoretical concept of moving species or moving plants and local genetics is so when climate change occurs, those species that we migrated would be well adapted to certain climates," Kaiser said.
It's important to note that the Joshua tree populations within the two parks are different species– Mojave National Preserve has the Eastern Joshua Tree and Joshua Tree National Park has the Western Joshua Tree. While they are both facing significant effects due to climate change, the populations are being impacted on different scales.
According to Jay Goodwin, Vegetation Branch Chief at Joshua Tree National Park, Joshua Tree National Park is predicted to lose 80-99.98% of Western Joshua Tree habitat. "Preservation of Joshua tree efforts focus on areas where modeling suggests we will still have potential for suitable habitat," Goodwin said. "Which depending on the climate scenario could be between 20 percent and less than one percent of habitat remaining."
Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve are collaborating on the Joshua tree restoration projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The funds were allocated to supply and staff the parks with resources to establish seedbanks of Joshua tree seeds. Once the funding was approved, the parks had to accelerate their projects in order to take advantage of the 2022 Joshua tree mast– a year in which the trees flower and produce fruit, which does not happen every year and is largely unpredictable. The fruit was ready for harvest before the BIL-funded crew could be hired. If not collected promptly, many of the seeds would have been eaten by rodents, ravens, and ants.
Working with Gabe Watts, Restoration Program Lead at Joshua Tree National Park, a local youth conservation program, Urban Conservation Corps stepped in to help Joshua Tree National Park by providing two weeks of free labor to harvest the fruit. Park staff, from Superintendant to fees, also pitched in to help. Overall, more than 800,000 Joshua tree seeds from 14 different populations were collected at Joshua Tree National Park and 500,000 seeds from 33 populations at Mojave National Preserve. The BIL-funded crew assisted with the slow and laborious seed extraction from harvested fruit. "The BIL funding was an important element of the conservation of these species," Goodwin said. "We are grateful for everyone involved in getting this project to the finish line."
Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve are collaborating on the Joshua tree restoration projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The funds were allocated to supply and staff the parks with resources to establish seedbanks of Joshua tree seeds. Once the funding was approved, the parks had to accelerate their projects in order to take advantage of the 2022 Joshua tree mast– a year in which the trees flower and produce fruit, which does not happen every year and is largely unpredictable. The fruit was ready for harvest before the BIL-funded crew could be hired. If not collected promptly, many of the seeds would have been eaten by rodents, ravens, and ants.
Working with Gabe Watts, Restoration Program Lead at Joshua Tree National Park, a local youth conservation program, Urban Conservation Corps stepped in to help Joshua Tree National Park by providing two weeks of free labor to harvest the fruit. Park staff, from Superintendant to fees, also pitched in to help. Overall, more than 800,000 Joshua tree seeds from 14 different populations were collected at Joshua Tree National Park and 500,000 seeds from 33 populations at Mojave National Preserve. The BIL-funded crew assisted with the slow and laborious seed extraction from harvested fruit. "The BIL funding was an important element of the conservation of these species," Goodwin said. "We are grateful for everyone involved in getting this project to the finish line."