Yesterday was my last field day at Joshua Tree National Park and it did not disappoint! I spent about seven hours in the park and each hour was different than the one before it. Early in the morning I took off with a JOTR Wildlife...
Stewardship is the intersection between three key principles: Understand, Assess, and Apply. These principles are an approach to applying resource management. Imagine being in charge of all resources (cultural, wildlife, vegetation, and physical sciences) in an area of nearly 800 thousand acres that is all...
The past couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of tracking tortoises with one of the park’s volunteers, Tom. Tom is retired from a long career in the forest service and he is an amazing naturalist. Being out in the field with a naturalist is...
The Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) is a beautiful desert plant with radiant yellow flowers. It grows in almost a bush-like bunch so it’s a breath-taking assortment of yellow and green. I see them every time I go out Tortoise tracking. Although, right now, in the middle...
En route to some bee monitoring field work, I got to spend some time with my boss on a lengthy drive through the park. Joshua Trees and granite boulders slide across the landscape, and I decide to take advantage of this time to ask him questions...
Joshua Tree encompasses two deserts: the Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert. The Mojave Desert is, of course, characterized by its endemic Joshua Trees and desert bushes, such as Creosotebush. Distinctive wildlife include the Chuckwalla (large! lizard!) and the Mojave Rattlesnake. Topping the list with...
The summer I turned 22, I drove across the country. I saw the green rolling hills of Appalachia, the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the American Desert all for the first time in the span of two weeks. Oh man, what a sight! How...