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Endangered Species Coalition 2016 Top 10 Report Nominating Form Deadline: July 29, 2016 General Information Nominating Organizations: Please use this Column to Provide the Requested Information 1 Organization & Web address 2 Contact name for species info 3 Address 4 Email & phone 5 Communications staff contact name 6 Email & phone General Species Information 7 Common name, genus, and species 8 Geographic range 9 Conservation status 10 Remaining population size Report Questions WildEarth Guardians, www.wildearthguardians.org & Native Plants Conservation Campaign, www.plantsocieties.org Taylor Jones 2590 Walnut St., Denver, CO, 80205 [email protected], 505-490-5141 Lori Colt [email protected], 760-405-898 Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia The Mojave desert of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Petitioned for ESA listing Unknown 11 12 Can you provide high-resolution photos? Yes If your species is selected, will you use the Yes report to advocate for the species? 13 5 free reports provided; additional copies = 0 $2.60/each. If you’d like additional copies, how many (bulk orders may be cheaper)? Public Engagement Questions (Please explain why the species is interesting, why it matters, why decision-makers + the public should care.)0 14 Provide background information, including interesting facts, for the species profile. The Joshua tree is a species of Yucca in the Agave family. It is a succulent, like all Agaves, not a tree, per se. It is large (up to 70 feet tall), and long-lived (individuals may live more than 200 years). Many species of birds, insects, amphibians, and reptiles depend on the Joshua tree for food, shade, water, and habitat. Native Americans used it for food, fiber and construction. Its iconic and unusual morphology make it one of the most recognized and beloved symbols of the southwestern high desert. For this reason, Joshua Tree National Park was designated to conserve the species and the ecosystem that depends on it. The Joshua Tree is pollinated by a single species of moth – the yucca moth – by an intricate and specialized mechanism that ends with Please cite any substantiating scientific studies moth eggs being laid in the Joshua tree flower. Yucca moth larvae feed on Joshua tree seeds as they develop. See Baker, Herbert G. 1986. Yuccas and yucca moths — a historical commentary. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 73: 556-564. [379] 15 16 17 What is your organization’s most important lead message for the public about this species’ decline to be included in the report? Is your NGO saving the species? If yes, how? How can individuals help? Please be specific. 18 If we don’t halt climate change, we will likely lose Joshua trees forever. WildEarth Guardians petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the species as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The NPCC is working to raise awareness of the plight of the Joshua tree and other imperiled species, to increase staffing, funding and legal requirements for imperiled plant conservation, and to increase understanding of the threats that climate change poses to plants and ecosystems. Individuals can contact their elected officials to ask for increased funding for invasive species control and fire prevention in Joshua Tree habitat. They can oppose the exploding housing and energy development in the area. They can also speak out for programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change, such as rooftop solar, vehicle emission controls, and energy conservation. The administration should commit to combating climate change by ceasing oil and gas development and coal mining on public lands and offshore. What action should the new administration take to save the species? How can they accomplish this action? Criteria-specific Questions – Please feel free to answer N/A or “see above/below” as appropriate. Please cite scientific studies. 19 Detail the ecological importance of the species. Does it play a critical function in its ecosystem, e.g., as a foundational species or keystone species? How does the ecosystem depend on this species (e.g., keystone predator, keystone pollinator, ecological engineer, refugia provider, etc.)? Joshua trees provide food, moisture and habitat for many desert species. Squirrels, woodrats, jackrabbits, lizards, kangaroo rats, and mice utilize Joshua tree habitats and/or feed on Joshua tree fruits. Twenty-five bird species use Joshua trees as nesting sites. Scott's orioles nest in the crown; ladder-backed woodpeckers and northern flickers nest in trunk or limb holes. American kestrels and loggerhead shrikes use Joshua tree as a perch when hunting. Many bird species feed on Joshua tree blossoms. Spiders, scorpions, beetles, and white ants utilize dead Joshua tree leaves and fallen branches as homes in the Mojave Desert. In its dry habitat, the moisture stored in this succulent plant can be an important water source in the dry season. When Joshua tree fruits are fully ripe the sugar content may exceed 20%. See Please cite any substantiating scientific studies 20 Detail information on any social or economic benefits the species provides—e.g., its value for clean water, recreation, medicine, scientific research, etc.—if any. (Optional) 21 Can the species be an ambassador for its habitat or taxonomic group? If yes, detail. http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/yucbre/all.html#BotanicalAndEcologi calCharacteristics It draws hikers, campers and desert-lovers to Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave Desert generally. A 2016 National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 2,025,755 visitors to Joshua Tree National Park in 2015 spent $96,741,300 in communities near the park. That spending supported 1,341 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $128,226,700. See https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/news/tourism-creates-economic-benefits.htm Joshua trees are already ambassadors for the Mojave Desert. Joshua trees, which grow in the Mojave Desert and nowhere else, have become mainstays for movies, fashion shoots, advertising campaigns and wedding ceremonies. The one that adorned the cover of U2's 1987 album "The Joshua Tree" became a pilgrimage site for fans from around the world until it was blown over by strong winds in 2000. See http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-joshua-20150607-story.html Judge’s Score for Importance of Species: 22 Describe the specific threat(s) to the species. What are the greatest impacts? 23 Detail the current and projected decline of the species. If not described above, detail the status of the species’ habitat(s). What are the threats, if any? Is there adequate connectivity? 24 25 26 Describe the timing of the species’ threat(s). Is it a current, eminent, or future threat? Indicate if there is an associated political threat, e.g., does an industry group or member of Congress threaten this species? Because Joshua trees are slow-growing and slow to reproduce, they will have difficulty moving their range to adapt to a changing climate. They require specific weather conditions for seedling recruitment, and as the climate warms and dries, those requirements may no longer be met. According to multiple climate models, Joshua tree habitat is expected to decrease by as much as 90% by 2100. Aside from climate change, the species is threatened by increases in the frequency and intensity of wildfire caused by proliferation of invasive plants (such as red brome) in its habitat. During the 1980s, development in desert boom towns such as Lancaster and Palmdale replaced about 200,000 Joshua trees with housing tracts and shopping centers. Many more were removed over the last decade to make way for renewable energy facilities. Climate change is a current, ongoing, and future threat. Changing wildfire regimes are a current threat. Vested interests in oil and gas development and coal mining are putting pressure on the Obama administration to continue leasing public lands for energy development. Please cite any substantiating scientific studies Judge’s Score for Severity and Extent of Threat: Judge’s Final Score Please submit to [email protected] by July 29, 2016, and thank you for participating in the 2016 Top 10 Report. Additional resources: Barrows, C. W., & Murphy-Mariscal, M. L. (2012). Modeling impacts of climate change on Joshua trees at their southern boundary: How scale impacts predictions. Biological Conservation, 152, 29-36. Brooks, M. L. 2000. Competition between alien annual grasses and native annual plants in the Mojave Desert. American Midland Naturalist 144: 92–108. Brooks, M. L., & Matchett, J. R. (2006). Spatial and temporal patterns of wildfires in the Mojave Desert, 1980-2004. Journal of Arid Environments, 67, 148-164. Cole, K. L., Ironside, K., Eischeid, J., Garfin, G., Duffy, P. B., & Toney, C. (2011). Past and ongoing shifts in Joshua tree distribution support future modeled range contraction. Ecological Applications, 21(1), 137-149. Cornett, J. W. (2014). Population dynamics of the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia): Twenty-three- year analysis, Lost Horse Valley, Joshua Tree National Park. In R. E. Reynolds (Ed.), Not a Drop Left to Drink (pp. 71-73): California State University Desert Studies Center, 2014 Desert Symposium. DeFalco, L. A., Esque, T. C., Scoles-Sciulla, S. J., & Rodgers, J. (2010). Desert wildfire and severe drought diminish survivorship of the long-lived Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia; Agavaceae). American Journal of Botany 97(2), 243-250. Dole, K., Loik, M., & Sloan, L. (2003). The relative importance of climate change and the physiological effects of on freezing tolerance for the future distribution of Yucca brevifolia. Global and Planetary Change, 36(137-146). Reynolds, M. B. J., DeFalco, L. A., & Esque, T. C. (2012). Short seed longevity, variable germination conditions and infrequent establishment events provide a narrow window for Yucca brevifolia (Agavaceae) recruitment. American Journal of Botany 99(10), 1647- 1654. Please cite any substantiating scientific studies