Mojave Desert wildfire threatens California’s iconic Joshua trees

Geoff Bennett:

Firefighters are working to control the massive blaze known as the York Fire that has swept through the California desert and into Nevada.

A brief, but heavy downpour Tuesday helped containment efforts, which were about 35 percent as of this morning. But a wildfire of this scale did not used to be common in the Mojave Desert landscape, known for its unique vegetation and animal species.

Stephanie Sy explores what has already been lost and why experts say it's unlikely it'll grow back.

Stephanie Sy:

In this part of California's Mojave Desert near the Nevada border, smoky skies aren't the view they're used to.

Lisa Calderwood, Traveler:

There's a haze, nothing. You can't see ahead. I mean, you can't see the mountain.

Stephanie Sy:

And while crews are making progress on containing the fire, a major concern among officials and ecologists is the lasting damage to the fragile desert ecosystem, including the region's trademark Joshua tree.

Jacob Margolis is a science reporter at LAist focused on climate change and natural disasters. He says fires of this scale in the Mojave region used to be rare.

Jacob Margolis, Science Reporter, LAist:

Everywhere in California sees fire at some point. But if we're talking about fire return intervals, like how often these areas historically saw fire, some of these ecosystems might not see a substantial fire that could maybe clear stuff out, some estimates are, a couple 100 years.

Stephanie Sy:

The Mojave Desert is known for its unique vegetation and wildlife, says Kelly Fuhrmann acting superintendent of the Mojave national preserve.

Kelly Fuhrmann, Acting Superintendent, Mojave National Preserve:

It's a very special place in a lot of ways, being a desert ecosystem. The vegetation assemblages are quite diverse, although in a — sort of a subtle way, not a large array of trees, for example. It's desert scrub and grasses and such like that., and then also a large variety of wildlife that inhabits ecosystems there too, such as the desert tortoise, which is a very unique species out here that we protect.

Stephanie Sy:

There are an estimated 10,000 threatened desert tortoises in the region, as well as the iconic Joshua trees, which experts worry may not spring back after such an intense wildfire.

Jacob Margolis:

When you have a plant that is not fire-adapted that's getting hit by fire maybe previously every few hundred years, say, the seeds had time to reestablish — these Joshua trees grow three centimeters or something like that a year. It takes a long time for them to grow to like 10 meters in size.

Kelly Fuhrmann:

The long-term impacts of those fires on those ecosystems in the preserve are of great concern to us, because the recovery can take decades, if not centuries, in some respects, depending on the ecosystem.

Stephanie Sy:

Experts also say climate change has helped make conditions right for the blaze, not just hotter summers, but wetter winters, like California experienced this year.

Jacob Margolis:

The many landscapes in California already, as we are in Mediterranean kind of climate here, but it is supposed to become more extreme as time goes on, as the climate does continue to change.

And so what we might see and what we do see our a lot of rain. There's a lot of rain, growth rates, and then the drying out of those grasses or plants, and then they get crispy quite quickly. And so they're ready to burn.

Stephanie Sy:

The York Fire started on private land. And while there have been no reported human casualties, it's too soon to know how many tortoises or trees may have been lost.

High winds have created extremely challenging conditions for firefighters. But even more challenging may be the path to recovery for this precious desert ecosystem.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy.