Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park is a wilderness area and derives its name from the many Joshua Trees found in the park.

Wilderness is an area “…where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain…”

In 1976 about eighty percent of Joshua Tree National Monument was designated wilderness. The 1994 California Desert Protection Act added 163,800 acres of wilderness, bringing the park total to 585,000 acres.

In designated wilderness, facilities and improvements such as trails, signs, and campsites may be provided only where they are necessary to protect resources and the public’s health and safety. Wilderness areas offer opportunities for a primitive and unconfined recreational experience. They provide visitors with greater solitude and quiet, with opportunities to explore where few others have ventured.

In the 1800s cattlemen drove their cows into the area for the ample grass available at the time and built water impoundments for them. Miners dug tunnels through the earth looking for gold and made tracks across the desert with their trucks. Homesteaders began filing claims in the 1900s. They built cabins, dug wells, and planted crops.

Each group left its mark upon the land and contributed to the rich cultural history of Joshua Tree National Park. The park protects 501 archeological sites, 88 historic structures, 19 cultural landscapes, and houses 123,253 items in its museum collection.

After the area became a national monument in 1936, local and regional residents were the primary park visitors. As Southern California grew so did park visitation; Joshua Tree now lies within a three-hour drive of more than 18 million people. Since Joshua Tree was elevated from national monument to national park status in 1994 however, greater numbers of visitors from around the nation and the world come to experience Joshua Tree National Park.

The picture on this page is an Ocotillo plant in bloom in the early spring. The bright red flowers on the end of each branch reminds one of a torch.

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