A WIN FOR CONSERVATION - Western Joshua Trees Win State Protection!
On June 27, 2023 California lawmakers voted to pass the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, a bill that will permanently protect the endemic keystone species, Yucca brevifolia, Wetsern Joshua Tree.
This bill prohibits the unpermitted take (killing/removal) of the WJT. The bill requires the development of a conservation plan and creates a fund to protect the species.
The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act bill is the first California bill that focuses on the conservation of a species threatened by climate change.
A win for conservation, environmentalist but more importantly protecting not only a species but the preservation of an ecosystem and biodiversity. This has been a long battle filled with emotion from both sides, those for conservation and those against the protection of the WJT.
Above is a local developer who illegally (without permit) killed over 10 Western Joshua Trees along with Mojave Yucca. He was the first developer to be issued a fine for violation of the Desert Native Plants Act for the town of Yucca Valley. All though Yucca Valley commission had to be pressed by local environmentalists to enforce their native plant regulation.
