New law to protect Joshua trees from climate change imposes fees on desert developers

California has enacted the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, the first law aimed at helping to ensure the survival of millions of the climate-threatened trees while accommodating booming renewable energy and housing projects across their ancient Mojave Desert domain. “This bill ends the debate over whether Joshua trees should be protected,” said Brendan Cummings, the Center for Biological Diversity’s conservation director and a resident of the community of Joshua tree, “and launches us down an unprecedented path on collectively working to save this iconic and irreplaceable species in the face of climate change. “If we do what’s necessary to save the Joshua tree,” added Cummings, author of the petition, “we will also make Southern California’s high desert and the communities within it a better, more sustainable place for all of us.” The commission’s stalemate reflected a politically charged reality: The western Joshua tree requires a new era of regulation and conservation in an increasingly unforgiving ecosystem. “This is not a good law and the Joshua tree is not an endangered species,” said Madelaine LaVoie, a real estate agent in the high desert city of Yucca Valley. “While the western Joshua tree is the first species protected in California due to climate change,” Cummings said, “unfortunately, it may not be the last one.”