Editorial: Finally, a plan to save Joshua trees from climate change — and the bureaucrats

Without greater protections, the western Joshua tree could lose more than 90% of its habitat by the end of the century, scientists say. Climate change is the single greatest threat to the long-term survival of the Joshua tree, a beloved symbol of California’s high desert. Scientists have long warned that climate change poses an existential threat to the western Joshua tree, one of two distinct species that live in California, and that the tree could lose more than 90% of its current habitat by the end of the century without greater protections. The governor’s proposal would allow wildlife officials to permit the killing or removal of a western Joshua tree only if certain conditions were met, and would give property owners and developers the option of paying mitigation fees instead. Prospects for making those protections permanent seemed to dim last year, when state wildlife scientists recommended against listing the Joshua tree as threatened, despite criticism by independent peer reviewers that the analysis had mischaracterized the science and understated the threat climate change poses.