What’s Joshua Tree National Park Without Joshua Trees?

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  02.06.08 | 7:09 AM ET

joshuaPhoto by provia_17 via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

That’s what park rangers and visitors are wondering, given a new prediction that in just 50 to 100 years global warming will make the southern California park too warm to support its namesake trees. I’ve spent a lot of time at Joshua Tree park, hiking, playing on boulders and even shivering through the 2000 New Year’s Eve there.

I can only hope the naysayers in this NPR report who insist the trees will survive, at least at higher park elevations, are right.