According to the National Park Service, Joshua Tree National Park is home to around 870,000 of its namesake trees. It’s made for one of the most visually distinctive parks in the country, a singular place to take in one of the plant kingdom’s most visually striking members. That doesn’t mean that the trees in question aren’t still at risk, however — in recent years, climate change has emerged as a particular threat to them.
Climate change isn’t the only way these trees are at risk, and this week another existential threat cropped up within the park. This is more of a bane to plant life in general: on the afternoon of May 30, 2025, the National Park Service reported that it was dealing with a fire there. As of the morning of May 31, roughly 40% of the the fire was contained, and investigators were looking into its cause.
The Los Angeles Times’ Grace Toohey covered the fire and the damage it caused. Toohey cites park spokesperson Donovan Smith, who told the Times that several Joshua trees did suffer damage from the fire. What’s especially alarming about the fires is where they are located: Covington Flats. According to the National Park Service’s website, this region of the park is home to “some of the park’s largest Joshua trees, junipers, and pinyon pines.”
Joshua Tree’s Popularity Might Be Its Worst Enemy
The region grew more popular during the pandemicAs Toohey pointed out, this isn’t the only fire in recent years to have an effect on Joshua trees in the area. Five years ago, the Dome fire in Mojave National Preserve — a little over an hour north of Joshua Tree National Park — was responsible for killing over a million Joshua trees. Hopefully the impact of this new fire will be significantly less than that.
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