LOS ANGELES — The noble saguaro cactus may take the cake for the most globally iconic desert plant in the Southwest, but it would be impossible for a Southern Californian to imagine a desert landscape without Joshua trees on the horizon.
To help keep the twisty, spiky Yucca brevifola part of the desert, a petition to protect it under the California Endangered Species Act was submitted back in 2019, but the California Fish and Game Commission — which decides which of these petitions move on to protection — can’t seem to agree on what to do.
There isn’t exactly a shortage of Joshua trees right now, however. In addition to protections within the 800,000-acre Joshua Tree National Park, the western Joshua tree’s range extends far out into Palmdale and Lancaster and north along the Eastern Sierra and into Death Valley.
