I went to Joshua Tree after the government shutdown. Even though it looked picture-perfect, it could actually take the park 300 years to recover from the damage.
Joshua trees were supposedly named by Mormons after the prophet Joshua, because of their upward-reaching limbs. There are probably thousands of them in the park, where they dot the landscape.
The National Parks Conservation Association's Lamfrom was in Joshua Tree in the first days of the shutdown, and said he encountered a madhouse. Located just a few hours from Los Angeles and other major cities, the park attracts about 2.8 million visitors annually, and the winter is an especially popular time.
He described it as a story of competing forces, with the "absolute maximum visitation and absolute minimum supervision," as just a skeleton crew of staffers were working. In addition to the park rangers, some of whom reportedly worked without pay during the shutdown, plenty of others helped out during the shutdown, including volunteers and community members.
What we know about the shutdown damage has also evolved. One damaged Joshua tree turned out to have been cut down before the shutdown, according to the publication National Parks Traveler.
At least one Joshua tree was hit by a vehicle traveling where it shouldn't have been during the shutdown, and killed, Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith told the publication. As of early this month, park staff were compiling a report about the shutdown damage, according to the report.
As awed as my boyfriend and I were by the Joshua trees, plenty else captivated us in the park. Especially notable was a garden chock full of distinctive cholla cacti. In spite of the nickname "teddy bear" cacti, cholla have notoriously painful spines, so we tread carefully around the dazzling spot.
The history of Joshua Tree as a preserved natural area has been turbulent. Parts were famously used as mines, the remnants of which can be seen on certain well-known hikes. Joshua Tree was first set up as a protected "national monument" in 1936, and expanded significantly as recently as 1994.
The park's namesake Joshua trees also face another impending threat: climate change. There could be extensive deaths of Joshua trees in the park as soon as 2100, University of California, Berkeley's Patrick Gonzalez testified to Congress this month.
We did see some evidence of vandalism, from years ago, while walking around the park. On a hike, we came by a spot where a well-known figure in Joshua Tree's history, William F. Keys, had a deadly 1943 gunfight with another man. Keys carved a stone marker on the spot, but when we came by, the stone was gone — it had been broken, and was removed by the park for safekeeping years ago. There had been prior vandalism too, according to the sign there.
Sadly, vandalism does happen in national parks, even when government shutdowns aren't in progress. That's why it's so important to protect them, Lamfrom said. "Joshua Tree is where we remember what the world has always looked like," he said.
Advertisement