Gaining Understanding

Looking for Birds
Looking for Birds. National Park Service photograph

Cahuilla, Serrano, Chemehuevi, and Mojave native communities have long stewarded the lands that include Joshua Tree National Park. Tribal communities expand our understanding of the desert’s plants, animals, and natural processes that have developed over thousands of years. Traditional ecological knowledge has been passed from generation to generation through storytelling and hands-on training, including where to find resources, how and when to harvest plants, how to safely travel across the desert, and the use of fire to manage the landscape.

Traditional knowledge, together with physical surveys, computer modeling, and various studies, helps park managers mitigate threats such as fire, damage to cultural sites, and invasive species, and develop sustainable management practices.

Last updated: August 9, 2023

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