In July 2006, Joshua Tree National Park was primed for fire, with a very dry and very high fine fuel load. These highly combustible fine fuels ignited during two separate lightning events in the Covington Flats and Whispering Pines areas of the park, and the resulting fire spread quickly across the arid landscape, burning a total of 1525 acres.
The fire burned through many park- and privately-owned structures in the Whispering Pines Subdivison, leaving behind debris that posed potential hazards to park staff, visitors, wildlife, and cultural resources. The highest priority to restore the ecology of the Whispering Pines area identified in the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) plan was to mitigate safety risks and potential resource damage posed by this debris. Removal of debris left large denuded areas of unstable soil that were susceptible to erosion. Revegetation and vertical mulching of these denuded areas was specified in the BAER plan to stabilize soils, and hasten the restoration of length recovery of Mojave Desert vegetation.
Joshua Tree National Park received substantial precipitation during the winter of 2007-2008, which has benefited natural recovery of the Whispering Pines area. Native annuals carpetted the burned area this spring, and many native shrubs and perennial grass species have resprouted. Joshua Tree National Park’s Center for Arid Lands Restoration (CALR) has propagated sixteen different native plant species collected from unburned vegetation islands within the Whispering Pines subdivision. These native shrubs and grasses respresent a good proportion of perennial diversity of the burned over vegetation, and include both early colonizers of disturbed areas such as Apricot Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), and slower growing native shrubs such as Mormon Tea (Ephedra nevadensis). Park staff will outplant into denuded areas in the fall of 2008, when plants will receive maximum benefits of winter rains, and have an excellent chance of survival. Moisture needs of the transplants will be supplemeted with Driwater®, a gel which provides slow release irrigation directly to plant roots, and each will be protected from herbivores by a natural mammal repellent. Park staff will monitor survival of the outplants, and will monitor natural recruitment into the system. Natural recovery of the system, with supplemental revegetation of the denuded former building sights, is gently helping to restore this burned area of the desert.
Contact: Alice Miller, Vegetation Branch Chief
Phone: (760) 367-5564
*This story supports the National Fire Plan |
