Article

Desert Diversity: Mapping Death Valley’s Vegetation

Death Valley National Park

By Christina Martin, I&M Research Scientist and Communication Specialist
March 2025

Death Valley National Park (NP) is nature's ultimate display of extreme conditions. It’s the hottest, driest, largest, and lowest national park in the United States, spanning 3.4 million acres across California and Nevada. Summer temperatures often soar past 120°F, and the park gets only about 2 inches of rain each year. At first glance, the park might seem barren. Yet, it is surprisingly rich in plant life with over 2,000 documented species that support diverse wildlife. To better understand and protect this unique ecosystem, the National Park Service’s Inventory & Monitoring Division led a decade-long project to classify and map the park's plant communities.

A wide expanse of desert vegetation growing in a reddish rocky soil stretches toward mountains under a clear blue sky.
A wide expanse of desert vegetation.

NPS

Charting the Diversity of Death Valley NP

Starting in 2010, scientists from the National Park Service, California Native Plant Society, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Cogan Technology Inc., led an ambitious effort to document the plant communities throughout the park. Fieldwork for this project was no small task. Researchers contended with scorching heat, steep slopes, and dense, thorny vegetation. With few roads and trails to access remote areas, much of the work involved hiking long distances through rugged terrain.

A researcher sits on a narrow, steep ridge of rocky, tan-colored terrain, writing down observations.
Not a plant in sight? Think again! Even in this seemingly barren landscape, researchers found plenty to document.

NPS

Using field data collected during this project, combined with data from earlier studies, the team grouped observations into 85 "plant alliances" and 186 "plant associations." Plant alliances are broad groups of vegetation defined by dominant species, such as pinyon pine forests or Joshua tree woodlands. Associations describe smaller, tightly connected plant communities that thrive under specific conditions, like saltbush and desert holly in low-lying desert flats. These classifications help scientists understand how plants adapt and organize within the park’s unforgiving landscape.

While some researchers focused on classifying plants in the field, others worked to produce maps. They used satellite imagery, historical data, field observations, and the plant classification results to create the most detailed vegetation map ever made for the park.

The map shows that shrubland communities cover about 70% of the park, with nearly half that area dominated by creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) associations. This resilient plant plays an important role in the ecosystem, flourishing in extreme desert conditions and supporting diverse wildlife. Beyond plants, the map includes detailed layers on factors such as elevation, slope, and water flow, as well as land features like sand dunes, badlands, and volcanic rock fields. Remarkably, less than 1% of the park is developed, and only 22% consists of sparsely vegetated or barren land.

A desert landscape featuring numerous Joshua trees scattered across an arid plain, with sparse shrubs and distant mountain ranges under a clear blue sky.
Joshua trees mixed with desert shrubs in Death Valley NP.

NPS

Using the Maps for Conservation

The vegetation map is more than just a snapshot of what grows where—it’s a toolkit for conservation. Park managers use them to track changes over time, address challenges like invasive species and habitat loss, and monitor recovery after wildfires. By linking the maps to climate models, scientists can also predict how the park’s ecosystems might respond to future threats, such as rising temperatures or longer droughts.

This project underscores the importance of studying and preserving the natural world, even in the harshest conditions. Death Valley NP’s vegetation is a testament to resilience and diversity, reminding us that even in the extremes, life flourishes.

A map of Death Valley National Park labeled as “Course-Scale Mapping Example” that color-codes regions of the park by land categories, including Land Use and Land Cover, Playa and Dry Lake Bed Vegetation, Sand Dune Vegetation, Volcanic and Basalt Outcrop
This coarse-scale vegetation map of Death Valley NP highlights diverse ecosystems and landforms, ideal for broad assessments. Such maps help scientists understand how plants and landforms interact, guiding efforts to protect the park’s ecosystems. Fine-scale maps were also produced, offering greater detail for site-specific studies like trail planning or wildlife monitoring.

NPS/Cogan

Tags

Last updated: March 7, 2025