California Desert Parks: Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park, and Mojave National Preserve. State of the Parks

摘要

In southeast California, there is a special place where the Great Basin, Mojave, and Sonoran deserts come together to form a region with varied natural communities and resources. To protect these diverse resources, Death Valley National Monument was established in 1933, followed three years later by Joshua Tree National Monument. Further protection for the California deserts came in 1994 with passage of the California Desert Protection Act. This landmark legislation changed Joshua Tree and Death Valley from national monuments to national parks, increasing the size of both. Joshua Tree increased by 234,000 acres to its present size of 794,000 acres, and 585,040 acres (73 percent) became wilderness. Death Valley grew by about 1.3 million acres to its present size of nearly 3.4 million acres, making it the largest national park in the contiguous lower 48 United States, and 95 percent of the park became designated wilderness. The California Desert Protection Act also established the 1.6- million-acre Mojave National Preserve, which lies between Death Valley and Joshua Tree.