Joshua Tree National Park, Southern California Desert

Joshua Tree National Park – Located in the Southern California Desert. The park encompasses nearly 800,000 acres of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, conserving two separate desert ecosystems at different altitudes. The area enclosed by the park was declared a National Monument in 1936, a Biosphere Reserve in 1984 and finally a National Park in 1994.

 

Joshua Tree National Park – National Monument

The profile of the Joshua Tree National Park (then a National Monument) was raised significantly in 1987 with the release of the best-selling U2 album The Joshua Tree, the cover of which featured evocative black-and-white photography of the Park’s landscape and distinctive trees.

 

Joshua Tree National Park – large ecosystems

Two deserts, two large ecosystems whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation, come together at Joshua Tree National Park. Below 3,000 feet, the Colorado Desert encompasses the eastern part of the park and features natural gardens of creosote bush, ocotillo, and cholla cactus. The higher, moister, and slightly cooler Mojave Desert is the special habitat of the Joshua Tree National Park. In addition to Joshua tree forests, the western part of the park also includes some of the most interesting geologic displays found in California’s deserts. Birds in the park include burrowing owls, vultures, golden eagles, and roadrunners. It occasionally snows at higher elevations.