42. Mojave Desert Land Trust: Protecting Rare Plants, Lands & Animals in the Mojave Desert w/ Kelly Herbinson & Patrick Emblidge

Join us as we venture into the Mojave Desert with Kelly Herbinson, Executive Director of Mojave Desert Land Trust, and Patrick Emblidge, Plant Conservation Program Manager, whose groundbreaking conservation work reveals the urgent need to protect one of North America’s most iconic and misunderstood ecosystems. Kelly and Patrick share what it means to safeguard the desert’s irreplaceable biodiversity from the iconic Joshua tree facing climate-driven extinction to the thousands of acres permanently protected through conservation easements that preserve rare plants and vulnerable desert species.

In an era when deserts are dismissed as barren wastelands even as they face unprecedented threats from climate change and development, this essential conversation challenges us to recognize the Mojave as a vibrant, interconnected ecosystem worthy of fierce protection and to understand how strategic land conservation can become a powerful tool for ensuring these landscapes endure for generations to come.

 

RAY OF HOPE:

In a time when climate change threatens the Joshua tree with extinction and development pressures fragment critical desert habitat, Kelly and Patrick’s dedication to protecting Mojave ecosystems through conservation easements, land acquisition, and seed banking stands as a powerful ray of hope by demonstrating that science-driven action and community engagement can permanently safeguard thousands of acres and the rare species that depend on them.

This commitment to desert conservation represents hope because it shows us a way forward: land trusts working to permanently protect critical habitat through conservation easements before it’s lost, thousands of acres preserved that provide refuge for rare plants and desert wildlife, seed banks preserving genetic diversity for future restoration, native plant sales connecting communities to desert biodiversity, and a growing recognition that desert ecosystems are not wastelands but thriving communities of life, truly ensuring that the Mojave’s iconic species have a fighting chance against the escalating threats of our changing climate.

 

ANXIETY TO ACTION:

In an era when climate change is rapidly reshaping desert ecosystems and development pressures threaten to destroy irreplaceable habitat, understanding the urgency of Mojave Desert conservation reminds us that every acre protected through conservation easements, every seed preserved, and every native plant cultivated represents a lifeline for species that have survived in these harsh landscapes for millennia—and that our choices today will determine whether future generations inherit a living desert or a memory of one.

 

Take Action:

• Support organizations like Mojave Desert Land Trust that permanently protect critical habitat through conservation easements and land acquisition. 
• Attend MDLT’s annual native plant sale to support desert biodiversity in your own yard. 
• Practice responsible recreation by staying on designated trails and roads to protect fragile desert plants. 
• Plant native desert species if you live in arid regions to support local biodiversity and rare species. 
• Reduce your carbon footprint to slow the climate change threatening Joshua trees and other desert species. 
• Contact your representatives to support public land protection and conservation easement programs. 
• Share the importance of desert conservation to counter the “wasteland” narrative. 
• Learn about conservation easements and how they protect landscapes in perpetuity.

 

GUEST SOCIAL MEDIA & RESOURCES:

Mojave Desert Land Trust: @mojavedesertlandtrust

Learn more: www.mdlt.org

 

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