Scientists predict that the spiny trees are unlikely to survive through the end of the century due to climate crisis
If officials eventually do choose to protect the tree under the state Endangered Species Act, it would be the first time a species has been listed primarily due to threats from climate change.
The decision frustrated Brendan Cummings, the conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity who spearheaded the efforts to list Joshua trees. The iconic California species is already contending with the effects of the climate crisis, he said, and they need urgent help. “What we have here is a very clear, undeniable threat to the Joshua trees,” said Cummings.
“The question is not, ‘Will climate change be bad for Joshua tree?’ The question is, ‘How bad will it be, and how quickly?’ And the truth is, we don’t know yet,” said Jeb McKay Bjerke, who presented the state department’s recommendation, to the commission this week. “And even if we don’t know their precise numbers, what we do know is that nearly everywhere we are actually counting them and doing studies, they’re either declining or failing to reproduce,” he added, with the exception being the far northern range of the species’ habitat.the most severe in 1,200 years – is likely already affecting the trees, scientists say. And the interconnected threats of development, smog, invasive grasses and wildfire are also taking a toll.
Efforts to list Joshua trees – which are not technically a tree but rather a succulent – have also been met with opposition from development interests, including renewable energy companies that could face more restrictions on building wind and solar farms if the species are protected. About 40% of the state’s Joshua trees are on private land – and a threatened listing would make it harder to remove those trees for development.