In a charred moonscape, a band of hopeful workers try to save the Joshua tree

Charred carcasses of Mojave yuccas, Joshua trees and chollas are seen at the edge of the York Fire in San Bernardino County, California, inside Mojave National Preserve. (Krystal Ramirez for NPR)

"The Country since leaving the Colorado has been a dry rocky sandy Barren desert." – Jedediah Smith, 1826.

Early western explorers who ventured into the Mojave Desert, like Jedediah Smith, often mischaracterized it as a barren landscape, devoid of life.