Saving the Unique and Exquisite California Desert for an Uncertain Future - Seed by Seed

Описание: Discover the Mojave Desert Land Trust’s Native Plant Restoration Nursery, Mojave Desert Seed Bank, and Mojave Desert Discovery Garden, as well as an important restoration site in Pioneertown.

In an architecturally well-known adobe building deep in the Mojave Desert on the outskirts of dusty Joshua Tree, California, more than five million seeds quietly rest. Carefully secured within neat rows of jars, they are chilling inside a specialty refrigeration unit.
Despite its unassuming interior, the Mojave Desert Seed Bank is achieving the lofty goal of being an insurance policy for the flora of the Mojave and Colorado deserts.
Seeds from the Mojave Desert Land Trust’s 26-million-acre service region have been collected, processed by volunteers, and safely maintained here. With an estimated two in five of Earth’s wild native plant species at risk of extinction, seed banks worldwide work to stave off this rapidly diminishing biodiversity. In this region, the desert ecosystem suffers from significant drought, increasingly severe weather due to climate change, and shrinkage due to man’s relentless encroachment. Seeds from the Mojave Desert Seed Bank are used for research, habitat restoration, and long-term species conservation.
The public Mojave Desert Discovery Garden adjoins the seed bank at the Mojave Desert Land Trust headquarters. The public is invited to enjoy a self-guided tour of the garden daily between the hours of sunrise and sunset. It features plants such as showy Apache Plume and Prince's Plume, pollinator-favorites like California fuschia, and desert dudleya nestled among rocks. Identification markers display specimen names in Serrano, English, Spanish, and scientific Latin, and interpretive signage explains the eight garden themes. Water conservation is achieved using drought-tolerant native plants and a subsurface drip irrigation system that allows water to reach roots with little evaporation.

The nearby Native Plant Restoration Nursery, which is not open to the public, grows plants for restoration projects in various locations in the California desert. It is here that native specimens are cultivated for education and study, desert site restorations, and local landscaping use.

MDLT holds annual sale events where excited gardeners line up to purchase a wide range of native plants. -The next sale is Saturday, October 7, 2023.-

****Attend the MBCA Landscape Tour in person on April 21, 2024****

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ABOUT MBCA'S DESERT-WISE LANDSCAPING TOUR Our annually-held Desert -Wise Landscaping Tour (in person 4/21/24) and Videos promote the use and protection of native and drought-tolerant plants, the integration of the surrounding desert landscape and wildlife, water conservation, and DIY and permaculture methods. Each video segment showcases an exceptional local property where drought-tolerant, native landscaping flourishes, and offers a creative execution seen both at ground level and from high above in spectacular drone footage. ABOUT MBCA The Morongo Basin Conservation Association educates and advocates for a healthy desert environment that protects wildlife and wildlands, and supports the rural character, cultural abundance, and economic well-being of our communities.

TOUR SPONSORS MBCA's Landscape Tour is sponsored in part by Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency, Golden State Water Company, Hi-Desert Water District, Joshua Basin Water District, Mojave Water Agency, and Twentynine Palms Water District.

About MDLT
The Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to protect and care for lands with natural, scenic, and cultural value within the Colorado and Mojave Deserts. Since its founding in 2006, MDLT has conserved approximately 120,000 acres, conveying more tracts of land to the National Park Service than any other nonprofit. MDLT established a conservation seed bank to ensure the preservation of native species and operates an onsite nursery at its Joshua Tree headquarters which has grown over 100,000 native plants for restoration projects and community landscaping. MDLT educates and advocates for the conservation of the desert, involving hundreds of volunteers in our work. For more information, visit mdlt.org.
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