Joshua Tree - May 2003 / IMG_5843 Patrick and Lucy

This was a veritable forest of joshua trees on the way to Keys View (highest point in the park).

There had been a fire in this area a few years ago, so many of the trees were scorched and
burnt. Apparently part of the problem is the encroachment of non-native grasses - many
of them brought in by the ranchers around the turn of the century. The ranchers farmed
cattle and it must have been a little less arid in this area at the time. The non-native grasses
have spread and provided fuel for any fires, where normally there would be none.