Joshua Tree National Park is unreal. Its spiky namesake trees are often compared to something out of Dr. Seuss’ imagination, but park ranger Marc Mahan has another take. “I'm a big sci-fi nerd, and I ...

In the face of threats of climate change and habitat loss, a new national monument will protect critical habitat, promote equitable access to nature, and preserve the desert's rich cultural history.

9:26 a.m. Aug. 3, 2023: An earlier version of this article misspelled the last name of retired conservation ecologist Cameron Barrows as Barrow. A light rain fell on the Mojave National Preserve, ...

NPCA has been working to expand Joshua Tree National Park and establish Chuckwalla National Monument to protect desert tortoise habitat. Here’s why an intact desert landscape matters for the tortoise ...

The iconic spindly plants are under threat from a variety of factors, including climate change and development, and the California legislature is stepping in to help. What is it? Some think the ...

The gangly, spiky plants that grow in the vital and sensitive Mojave Desert can live more than 150 years. But devastating wildfires have left behind millions of charred trees — actually succulents — ...

With their twisted stalks and otherworldly outlines, Joshua trees look straight out of an alien landscape or a Dr. Seuss book. But lucky for us, these amazing icons of California’s Mojave Desert are ...

"The Country since leaving the Colorado has been a dry rocky sandy Barren desert." – Jedediah Smith, 1826. Early western explorers who ventured into the Mojave Desert, like Jedediah Smith, often ...

Artist Scott Kildall waves his microcontroller over a Joshua tree, recording wavelengths of light that are not perceptible by humans. (Carlos Jaramillo for NPR) The artist Scott Kildall is waving his ...

A light rain fell on the Mojave National Preserve, where firefighters continued their nearly weeklong battle Wednesday against an unusual desert wildfire that has incinerated countless Joshua trees ...