Name: Trang Ta
Course: Geography 1001: Introduction to Physical Geography
Research paper
Joshua Tree National Park
There are 58 national parks in the United States. All of them are treasures of the nation. Some of the famous parks are Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, etc. These national parks attract thousands to millions of visitors every year. Last summer, I had a chance to travel to Los Angeles, California with my family. One of the attractions that I visited was Joshua Tree National Park.
Despite the combination of heat and dry conditions the Joshua Tree Park has been populated for very long time ago, about many thousands of years. Some 10,000 years ago portions of the Pinto Basin contained a lake whose shores were inhabited by the people of the Pinto culture. After that about 2,000 years ago, the area was inhabited by Serrano and Cahuillo Indians. In 1855 the Twentynine Palms area in the north section of the park area was surveyed by Colonel Henry Washingtion, one of the early non-Indian visitors. By the 1870's cattleman was bringing herds to the desert. Reports of gold strikes also attracted miners and prospectors to the area. Eventually visitors began to have serious effects on the desert vegetation as they dug up trees and plants and took them to their home. Minerva Hamilton Holt and others became concerned and initiated efforts in the 1920's to preserve the desert resources and educated people about the value of the desert.
In 1936, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a proclamation designating 794,000-acre of what is now Joshua Tree National Park. This area slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island- a national monument. The Joshua Tree Park officially became a national park in 1994. Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park located in Southeastern California, East of city of Los Angeles. It only took me about two hours driving from downtown Los Angeles. Joshua tree is the common name for the Yucca Brevifolia, which only grow in a small swath of the Mojave Desert, from Southwest Utah, Southern Nevada and Western Arizona and into Southeastern California, in elevations from about 1,300 to 5,900 feet above sea level. These areas have proper environment for Joshua trees because Joshua trees grow in hot and dry places. They can be found everywhere in the park, creating "forests". The trees attract people by their appearance, they can in a wide variety of fantastic shapes, admired by some and considered ugly by others.
Joshua Tree National Park is a great destination for family. Usually, people may take a few days in the park to explore all the things. There are many options for accommodation at Joshua Tree National Park, depending on your preferences. You can find some hotels in the nearby town of Twentynine Palms, just minutes from the North Entrance of the Park. Also, Joshua has nine campgrounds, which is good for a group of people. For our visit, we just drove up and stopped by for visiting for a few hours, so we did not stay during the night. Joshua Tree National Park is a place with tons of activities due to different types of landscapes that fascinate explorers every day. There are two main roads run through the park: Park Boulevard, which runs west to east from Twentynine Palms and the North Entrance to the West Entrance and the town of Joshua Tree. Another road is Pinto Basin Road, which joins up with Park Boulevard and runs south to north from Interstate 10 and the Cottonwood Visitor Center to the North Entrance and the town of Twentynine Palms. There are many landscapes in the Park. However, I did not have enough time to explore all of them. I just visited some of them. The first place I went as the Hidden Valley area. This is one of the most beautiful and easily accessible areas of the park. It is an enjoyable one-mile loop trail that enters through an opening into what is otherwise a large bowl surrounded by rock walls due to its geography. The area is also a popular rock-climbing area. Many visitors enjoy watching the climbers in action. For climbing activities, people are required to have all necessary equipment and tools. Also, people are required to learn the safety guide to ensure there are no issues during the activities. Also, I saw many people doing the campground in the Hidden Valley area. The next landscape that I visited was Keys View. This is a lookout point at an elevation of more than five thousand feet, with sweeping views extending out over the Coachella Valley. From here, you can see the San Andreas fault line, Palm Springs, the Salton Sea, and on a clear day, beyond to Mexico. As you drive up here, the elevation changes, the temperature is noticeably cooler, and the landscape takes on a whole different character. I believe this is the coolest area in the park since most of the other areas are very hot and dry due to the desert environment. The temperature in the park is always more than a hundred degrees in the mid-day. The next landscape that I visited was Barker Dam. This is the water dam in the park. This dam was constructed by early cattlemen in 1900. This is a good place to take photos as well. There are many and many attractive landscapes in the park such as Ryan Mountain Hike, Skull Rock, and Keys Ranch that attracted people to visit.
Even though Joshua Tree National Park is desert environment, this park is also home of thousand animals and plants. During my park visit, I saw many birds, lizards, and ground squirrels on trees or rocks because they are active in daytime. But it is at night that the desert is most alive with wildlife, especially in summer when temperatures soar over 100F. There are some animals that are active at night include snakes, bighorn sheep, rats, and black-tailed jackrabbits. They are usually active at night because during the hot day, they hide under the rocks or under the sand, waiting until the temperature is cooling down, they come out for food finding. The best time for viewing many kinds of animals are dawn and dusk, because you can see both those just going to bed and those just getting up. Joshua Tree National Park has also 52 species of mammals. Because scarcity of food in the desert limits the number of large mammals that can be supported, most desert mammals are small. For example, rodents are very large in population. They can burrow into the ground or hide in rocky crevices to avoid the mid-day heat. A few desert mammals, such as the round-tailed ground squirrel enter a state of aestivation when the days become too hot and the vegetation too dry. They sleep away the hottest part of the summer. They also hibernate in winter to avoid the cold. Besides many types of animals, the park also is home of many types of plants and trees such as Joshua, Ocotillo, Creosote bush, and soaptree yucca. These trees are adaptative in desert environment because they do not need much water as other trees. In the desert, these plants are food sources for the animals.
Recently, the National Park Services recognizes that climate change is one of the most important challenges facing America's national parks today. We all know that the atmosphere acts like a blanket around the Earth, it traps some of the Earth's heat and warms the Earth in the same way that a blanket trap some of your body heat and keep you warm in winter day. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are gases in the atmosphere that absorb and release the Earth's heat, causing warming effect. Humans are using more and more coal, oil and gases for electricity, transportation, and industrial activities. This makes the amount of greenhouse gases are increasing in the atmosphere. When the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases, the atmosphere traps more heat and the Earth warms up in the same way that a thick blanket will keep you warmer than a thin one. At Joshua Tree National Park, climate change poses a threat to many cherish species, like Joshua tree, desert tortoise, and desert bighorn sheep.
The deserts of Joshua Tree National Park have harsh and unforgiving climates, yet they are rich in biodiversity and home to many species. These species have adapted to survive tough conditions, and a changing climate can pose a threat to their livelihood. As the Earth continues to warm, scientists project that the Southwestern United States will become hotter and experience more frequent and harsher droughts and wildfires. These conditions will likely affect the population and home ranges of many species at Joshua Tree National Park. Rainfall is a critical factor that determines the health and reproductive success of many desert species. Like most desert dwellers, Joshua Tree National Park have developed a suite of adaptations to survive in the desert. Because there is no groundwater to draw on, the plants lack the deep taproot of plants that grow in wetter climes. But when it rains in the desert, it pours. Also, as the climate becomes warmer and drier, these species may shift to higher and higher elevation within the park. In fact, researchers warn that ninety percent of Joshua trees may be gone by the end of the century as their high-elevation habitat become too warm for them, and the significant impact was many of them are dying out.
Climate change is an issue that impacts people, wildlife, and vegetation across the globe. However, the good news is that there are simple actions we can all take to help. These actions will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and clean up the environment. For example, at Joshua Tree National Park, we are reducing our carbon footprint by driving hybrid and electric vehicles. In our visit, we also saw many electric vehicles operating in the park by Park National Association staffs. In addition, nowadays we are replacing power by reusable power by installing energy-efficiency lighting and solar motion sensor lights, installing high-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air conditioning units. Visitors should have their own responsibilities in protecting the park during the visit by putting trash and waste in the proper places.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/09/25/climate-change-is-destroying-our-national-parks-an-alarming-rate-study-finds/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1a629ed21559
https://www.planetware.com/desert-area/joshua-tree-national-park-us-ca-jtnp.htm
http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/JoshuaTree/JoshuaTree.html