Pitched for 700,000 acres mostly in Riverside County south of the park, the Chuckwalla National Monument would protect native animals, plants and historic sites.
Joshua Tree National Park, which straddles the San Bernardino and Riverside counties, is well known for hiking, camping and rock climbing as well as for the iconic Joshua trees. The park, which sits today at 795,156 acres, was established in 1936 as a national monument, then named a national park 58 years later when Congress passed theA car travels Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, from the Cottonwood entrance of Joshua Tree National Park toward the Orocopia Mountains west of Desert Center.
Drivers travel Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, along the 10 Freeway, south of Joshua Tree National Park, with a view of the Chuckwalla Mountains in the background near Desert Center. Ants crawl on desert willow flowers in the Mecca Hills Wilderness near Mecca on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, walks along a trail at Camp Young, a World War II military training camp, in Chiriaco Summit near Desert Center on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.
Colin Barrows, a member of the CactusToCloud Institute, is surrounded by towering native California fan palms during a Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, visit to the San Andreas Springs near North Shore.