Volunteers Needed For Hold The Mustard Campaign

Volunteers celebrating a job well done.

NPS/MBCA

 

Joshua Tree is seeking volunteers to help eradicate the invasive Sahara mustard plant that is invading the park and surrounding communities. Sahara mustard has the potential to do lasting harm to the native desert ecosystem. This rapidly spreading annual is most successfully controlled by manually pulling plants before they are able to spread seeds across the landscape.

If you are interested in joining park staff and fellow volunteers for a few hours to pull Sahara mustard plants this spring, the weed pull events will be held from 8 am to 1 pm on the following days:

Saturday, February 25; Sunday, March 4; and Saturday, March 17.

We will meet at the Oasis Visitor Center located at 74485 National Park Dr. in Twentynine Palms at 8 am and carpool to our work sites. Please bring water, snacks, a hat, and sunscreen. Tools and gloves will be provided.

Late winter and early spring is typically when the desert starts to show off its colorful wildflower blooms. In recent years the profusion of yellow blossoms along park roads has often included outbreaks of exotic Sahara mustard, an aggressive invader. Sahara mustard is a non-native plant capable of crowding out native Mojave Desert annuals and creating increased fuel loads and fire danger in local vegetation.

For more information about the park's weed control program, contact Katie Kain at: 760-367-5575, or via e-mail at: [e-mail]. You can learn more about the community sponsored Hold the Mustard project by going to the Morongo Basin Conservation Association website at: www.mbconservation.org/mustard.html.