Joshua Tree National Park

The Mojave Desert stretches across Southern California and Nevada. Its low humidity and high heat in summer make it the only native location in America where Joshua trees grow. The distinctive trees are so numerous that the national conservation area in the Mojave is named after them.

Joshua Tree National Park was originally called Joshua Tree National Monument. It was the brainchild of a woman named Minerva Hoyt, who lived in Pasadena, California, and loved desert plants. While indigenous peoples had lived in Southern California for five thousand years, it was not until the early twentieth century that roads were built into the desert. The result was damage to the ecosystem. Hoyt was concerned that all the plants she loved would disappear if nothing was done to protect them.