Ecologist Jim Cornett is as fascinated with California's driest places as ever. But the signs of stress brought on by climate change terrify him. Read columnist Steve Lopez's full story
If you have any questions about how the plants and animals of Southern California’s deserts are faring as the Earth gets hotter and drier, Jim Cornett is a good bet to have the answers. Roadrunners, palm trees, snakes, Joshua trees — Cornett has studied them all and written more than 40 books.
Hikers walk along the dirt and gravel road above the fan palm tree oasis in Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. This ocotillo on Jim Cornett’s cottonwood fan ocotillo study site in Joshua Tree National Park has had its bark removed by thirsty antelope squirrels trying to reach the moist wood beneath. How about this: Joshua Tree National Park might one day not be the best place to see Joshua trees. Some will survive, Cornett predicts, but many will die.Cornett, in fact, is documenting this and other desert ecosystem transformations for a book, which has a working title of “The California Deserts: Then and Now.
Desert ecologist Jim Cornett is studying the effects of climate change on the majestic fan palm trees in the Thousand Palms Canyon Palm Preserve in Thousand Palms.
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