Audio
Episode 3 Wildlife
Transcript
Donovan: Where two deserts meet is an official podcast of Joshua Tree National Park. Joshua Tree National Park acknowledges the Serrano, Cahuilla, Mojave, and Chemehuevi people as the original stewards of the land in which the park now sits. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with the indigenous people in this place, and we pay our respects to the people past, present, and emerging who have been here since time in Memorial.
Donovan: Hi, I'm Donovan.
Ian: And I'm Ian.
Donovan: And we're both park rangers here at Joshua Tree National Park, where two deserts meet is a podcast where we investigate topics that often require a bit more detail, and sometimes the help of an expert in the field to gain perspective.
Ian: So, Donovan, have you heard any good? Animal facts recently .
Donovan: Well, actually my favorite go-to animal fact is that the rattlesnakes that we have in the park smell with their tongues.
Ian: Elaborate.
Donovan: Well, Joshua Tree National Park is home to six different species of rattlesnakes, which as you may know are part of the Pit Viper family. And of course, being part of the Pit Viper family means that you have special pit organs that they use to catch prey.
Those cute little tongues that pop in and out of the rattlesnakes mouth help transfer the smells and temperatures of its surrounding. To those pit organs located in the front of the face. These pit organs allow the rattlesnakes to sense out the smell and heat of its prey.
Ian: Okay. Uh, I'll admit that is a pretty good fact, but I've got a few of my own tucked up my sleeve. Like, did you know the desert tortoise moves at an average speed of 0.2 miles per hour. Donovan: Okay, but how long would it take 'em to get to the other side though?
Ian: Very clever .
Donovan: Okay, well, I'm sure that both of us can go on and on, but you know, who would have even better facts about some of the wildlife here at Joshua Tree National Park Wildlife ecologists, Michael Vamstad.He always has some great insight about some of the amazing animals in this park, such as bats, bighorn, and big old tortoises.
Michael: My name is Michael Vamstad and I'm the wildlife ecologist here at Joshua Tree.
Ian: Joshua Tree National Park is home to hundreds of different species of wildlife, including roughly 250 different species of birds and about 150 types of mammals and reptiles. So as you can imagine, the roles and responsibilities of the lead wildlife ecologists here are very diverse. It's Michael's job to monitor and work with many of these species within the park, but some often require special attention.
Michael: Well, the most common species that I work with, or the ones I spend the most time on are there in the endangered species or the species that are what we call special management concern. So that'll be desert tortoise, big horn sheep. Um, nesting raptors is another thing that every year we spend a lot of time.
Donovan: In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was signed into law creating protections for all plants and wildlife listed as threatened or endangered. This law requires all federal agencies to consult with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that the actions they authorize, fund, or carry out are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence. Any listed species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated critical habitat of such species. That was a mouthful, but essentially it's saying that there are millions of species on planet Earth, and tools like the Endangered Species Act help us better protect species who are at high risk of extinction. There is quite a lengthy process in order to get a species listed as endangered, but of course the first step is figuring out what species needs our help.
Michael: So an endangered species is simply just a species that is either, it's shrunk, its habitat, shrunk, its numbers to a point where we're concerned about it being able to self-sustain into the future. So, You know, a classic example would be like the condors, you know, uh, or the bald eagle, you know, something where like DDT thinned their eggs to a point where we weren't seeing very many bald eagles. So when they classify the species as endangered, it's really based on their abundances and distributions. And if there's been a big change in that, usually reduction, obviously, right? So you have fewer of them around and fewer places. So the, the desert tortoise is like the main. That's one that the US Fish and Wildlife has listed for us. Um, it's one that is inhabited in the park and we spend the most time on, there's a few other species, um, like the yellow build cuckoo, um, the California nat catcher and a couple rails that do come through the park, but very much during migration. So there's not a lot the park can do to manage. Endangered species per se, um, because they're just passing through. So we really focus on our, you know, resident species are having a hard time. We have a couple plants that are also endangered, but the, uh, desert tourists, you know, clearly gets the most attention from the park, um, in order to, you know, conserve them. We really have some of the best protected habitat for the Desert Tortoise in the Mojave Desert. So we really. Try to protect that the best we can, and then keep our millions of visitors away from, you know, affecting them negatively in any way. The populations of desert tourists has really changed in Joshua Tree since like eighties and nineties. So during that time we did some surveys, very light surveys, to get an idea of abundance or how many of them there were on the landscape. And it turns out there. Anywhere between 30, sometimes 40, or sometimes even close to 50 tortoises counted per square kilometer. Nowadays when we do those surveys, we're only finding three to four tortoises per square kilometer. So going from 30 down to three is a huge change. And as a scientist, we like to call that something special. We call that an order of magnitude reduction. That means usually like a tenfold reduction. Um, And there's really little that you can argue about that kind of change. So a lot of scientists, we look at different survey methods or different things. They're like, oh, the survey method is a little different, so your numbers can be a little different, but when it is an order of magnitude change, 30 down to three, it's kind of undeniable. At that point, so we, historically, we had pretty good populations in the park and we probably had close to 30,000 tortoises, um, in Joshua Tree. And nowadays I estimate about 3000 tortoises. We've been a putting these little radio transmitters on the back of tortoises, and what that allows us to do is to go out, you know, once, uh, every couple weeks to see where they're at and to see how they're moving on the landscape. You know, do they move miles at a time or do they just move a hundred feet at a time? Do they keep a same home range over the years or do they really change and move around? And so what we're trying to figure out. Those Tauruses that live by roads, how can we get an idea of their movement patterns? Is there a way to work with our million visitors and all that traffic on our roads to keep the tauruses from getting, you know, smashed on the roads? So for example, during rainstorms, we've found that they tend to go towards wherever the water is. This can be the road. So we actually do have a signage that we put out at each one of our entrances to have people, Hey, uh, it's a rainstorm right now. Please watch out for tortoises on the road. Um, those big blobs or blocks that are on the road may not be a rock, that may be a tortoise drinking water. Additionally, we have these tortoise crossing signs in the park, just making people aware that they are there and they are, well, everybody kind of knows they're kind of slow, so they go on the road to, you know, to avoid them, to help them cross a road. Uh, things like that. So really it's, um, working with the visitors to, to be aware. That really is the biggest issue that we have.
Ian: The desert Tortoise was added to the federal endangered species lists in 1990, after a significant reduction in their numbers was observed over the past few decades in Joshua Tree National Park, estimates from past research indicate there were approximately 30 tortoises per square kilometer. However, there is now an average of roughly three Tortoises per square kilometer. That's a massive 90% reduction of the population within. Tortoises that were once abundant roaming the desert and a relatively common site are now something you need to be lucky or diligent to find.
Michael: Yeah, so the big reduction that we saw from the late eighties and nineties to now we believe had a had a kind of a two big issues that happened at the same time and they worked together synergistically and negatively, and those two things were disease. So the disease got into the desert tortoise sometime in the late nineties. Didn't really get into the park until the early two thousands that we think, but this was called an upper respiratory tract disease. What this means is that they basically get a really bad cold during a time when they need to conserve. So imagine, um, having a really runny nose from a chest or a head cold, but you couldn't drink water to hydrate yourself. So these tortoises were dying, um, from the disease, but it was coupled with drought. So we're also seeing these, you know, recurring, severe droughts happening in the Mojave, and we really believe that that's from climate change. So you have this climate change effect of more severe droughts, and then you have this disease issue. Going through the population at the same time. So those two things working together, you know, reduce the tourist population in the park. So there are some of these outside things. The disease thing that happened was really a, we believe, came from a. A pet tortoise or a tortoise in captivity that got it from another tortoise somewhere else. So it's not a native bacterium that got into the tortoise. We've seen it in other reptiles and pretty predominantly within the pet trade of tortoises across the globe. So the mycoplasma agassi, which is the, basically the name of the bug that got into the tortoise here in the Mojave, was really derived from other mycoplasma and um, bacteriums. Worldwide.
Ian: Michael brings up a great reminder here that the wild desert tortoises that we have inside the park shouldn't have play dates with any pet tortoises you may have at home. It's nothing personal. They just don't have the same immune systems, and honestly, they are quite the homebody anyway. They're small population numbers in the park. Paired with their homebody behavior of spending most of their life underground, can make desert tortoises come off as quite aloof or mysterious. Because of this, they're often one of the most asked about species by park visitors. However, as exciting as it can be to see one, it's important to remember to respect their personal bubble and keep your distance.
Donovan: While tortoises are definitely a fan favorite among park visitors, a species that always stays neck and neck with the tortoise for most sought after siding is the big horn sheep. Some people might also know them as rams, but the term ram actually refers to a male big horn sheep with the iconic curled horn. On the other hand, female big horn sheep are actually called use spelled e w e. Bighorn sheep are one of our larger mammal species that we have inside the park, but honestly, there is something very magical about getting to see one in the arid desert. One could easily fall for the misconception that since they are large, they should be easy to find in the park. However, they are impressive experts in camouflage and do their best impressions of the beige granite boulders in the park by employing a similarly colored coat and often remaining quite still while out and about with the massive size of the park his means that visitors are often playing a very difficult game of hide and seek with big horn on their.
Michael: So big horn sheep, um, in Joshua Tree really are a kind of a, a very cryptic species defined. You'd think they're pretty big, they'd be pretty easy, but they are rock dwelling creatures in some of the most rugged and rigorous habitats in the, in the park. So it's very difficult to count them or to get a real good understanding. But we do see them during certain times of the year, so they do need. They need to drink open water, mainly in the hottest months of the year. So July, August, um, even into September, we see them around water sources. So when it comes to viewing them or finding them, or for us to count them, you know, we try to go in the summertime to these places. We set up cameras to take, um, infrared, uh, triggered photos with these wildlife cameras. Really interesting stuff. So we know that their populations really expand and decline, and the literature really reflects that in the sense some mountain ranges in the Mojave will get a really good monsoon or get really good winter rain, and the forage is really good, but then another mountain system, literally 10, 20 miles away may not get any of that. And so the sheep that are in those mountains that are having a really hard time generally don't expand. Um, but the ones where they got the really good they do expand. The lambs are, you know, born very well. They, they're super healthy. They ewes are providing really quality milk to those lambs so they're able to survive. Whereas the sheep that are in those mountains that are in less than ideal, they may not have any lambs that actually survive from that. So it really is dealing with the conditions of the. and in Joshua Tree, we've had a couple of issues. Everything seemed to be rolling pretty good of, you know, when times were good. The sheep were everywhere. Um, but we also had disease come in too. Just, um, four or five years ago, we identified a strain of mycoplasma. Again, you probably heard that that's from the bacterium that the tortoises had. The same, similar bacterium is actually in bighorn sheep causing very similar issues, upper respiratory distress.
They lose a lot of water though basically mucus and other things like that, and it makes it really hard for them to survive. The adults generally can get over it, but the lambs succumb to it. Um, almost all the, you know, a hundred percent of the time, very, very few times do we see a lamb that gets sick from the disease that makes it through. Conditions are just so hard in the summer, and if they get that sickness, they don't survive. It also highlights the importance of connectivity in the sense of looking at the desert and you. You know, areas over there that got really good rain, really good plant response, so therefore really good forage and food for the big horn sheep. But then this range over here doesn't. So in the past when there weren't any highways in between or any solar fields in between or other things like that are human development that prevents that movement that in the past they were able to move more and move in between these herds and, uh, repopulate you know, from good, healthy herds over here to repopulate, those ones struggling over there. So that dynamic is really interesting. It's called a metapopulation dynamic. It was originally described by for butterflies. Where resources would be really good in one area. The butterflies would do really, really well one year, but in another area they would all almost go extinct. So that is a big challenge with the Bighorn sheep management, is that we know that we're these connectivity or connections between large land masses for the sheep have been fragmented.
Ian: Often when discussing the topic of big horn sheep visitors will mention sightings at other park service sites such as Rocky Mountain National Park. While there is some uncanny resemblance between the sheep here and there, the ones in Joshua Tree often appear much smaller in size. On top of that, they will often behave differently, but that makes sense when you take into account the harsh and dry climate of the desert compared to the cool and mountainous areas of the.
Michael: So the bighorn sheep in the desert are called the Nelson's Desert Bighorn Sheep is actually their full common name, and they are quite different in size and even coloration than the Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep, which you tend to see in, uh, Colorado and oh, even into Northern Nevada, Montana, some of these other places with the Rocky, uh, Rocky Mountains, they tend to be bigger, bulkier animals. And you'll see that you're kind of, um, you know, when I drive through, you know that area of Colorado and I see sheep along the side of the road, I'm always taken back like, wow, you know, these guys are big and they're heavy. They're called the Rocky Mountain sheep, cuz it is a different subspecies of Big Horn.
But they are all ovis canadensis. Which is basically big horn sheep. It's just a subspecies difference. So the sheep down here in the desert seem to be more adapted to desert environments. They're lighter colored, they're not quite as large. They don't have the water requirements that the rocky mountain sheep do.vSo they, they've even learned interesting adaptations like kicking over cactus and eating out the innards of a cactus. You know, probably don't see if they're rocky mountain sheep at all. So there is, there is a bit of a difference between 'em, but, um, not as much as you would think.The sheep that are. Below Interstate 10. So basically Palm Springs south into Anza Borrego and down to the Mexican border are considered the Peninsular big horn sheep. And at one time they had called them a separate species of of sheep, but uh, later on, uh, through genetic work, they found that they are pretty much identical to our desert, uh, bighorn sheep or Nelson's bighorn sheep that we have here in Joshua Tree. So they continued with their listing of them being endangered, not the ones in Joshua Tree National Park, but just across a valley, you know, south into the Santa Rosa Mountains and San Jacinto mountains and Lagunas. These sheep are endangered. They're covered under the Endangered Species Act. They're listed, but they're more of a geographic range. So they said, okay, all these sheep, bighorn sheep that are in this area have really suffered from, you know, development, uh, issues, basically losing connectivity as well as numbers reductions from disease. So they continued with that endangered species protection for just that population. In every other sense of how the animals act and, um, how they deal with the desert is very similar to the ones in the, in the park.
Donovan: If you've ever recreated outdoors before, you may have come across a closure of an area for reasons related to wildlife. National Park Service sites like Glacier will sometimes close trails due to bear activity or climbers at Devil's Tower may find the climbing route that they were eyeing up is closed for Raptor nesting. But if you come to Joshua Tree in the summer, So you'll find something a little different. Often during the consistent triple digit temperatures and extreme sun of the summer, Joshua Tree will close a specific trail on behalf of our beloved big horn sheep. But many often ask, what is the purpose of these closures and how does the part go about deciding how and what to close?
Michae: You know, closing down areas in a national park for wildlife is definitely a decision we don't take lightly and we go. Any and every option or alternate to try and figure out a way to do it. Looking at the park and the amount of water in the park, especially related to bighorn sheep because they really need it. In the summertime, we've decided to monitor our water sources in the park. And when we're in a severe drought and we lose those water sources, we kind of count them. So I created a little matrix, a decision matrix that would be completely rigid in the sense of once these two places go dry, then we go ahead and close down areas for visitors. The idea here is to only close the areas when they are needed by the wild. So in this sense, when the drought is severe enough that it's, you know, removed water outta Barker Dam, keys, ranch Dam, few other places, we assume that these other Tenaha and other places where they get water are dry as well. For example, uh, the Bighorn Sheep Closure at 49 Palms Canyon is something we don't do every year. Uh, believe it was five years ago, we did a closure, and then for three or four years, we didn't do any kind of closure for them at. However, the last two years in Joshua Tree have been extremely dry, and so these other water sources that were once available for the sheep are now dry. We go ahead and close 49 Palms Canyon, so why 49, well, 49 Palms Canyon is a real perennial permanent water source in the sense that that spring is always running. It seems to always fill up pools of water and um, it never dries up. So allowing people to go. And check it out in July and August and our visitation has gotten to the point where if we did leave it open, we would have visitors there every day. And that just displaces the sheep during the most critical time for them. Uh, we go ahead and close those areas, so we definitely take it very seriously. We do not like to close down areas, uh, to the visitors. What's been really cool and really heartwarming for me is that whenever we put out these public announcements about we're gonna do this closure at 49 Palms Canyon and stuff, it is overwhelmingly, um, positive. You know, the folks that read that and comment on that stuff, on social media or even on our website almost, you know, 90 some. Percent of the time, it's actually very positive. They're happy that we are doing this for the sheep, so that makes it really easy. Uh, you know, for the ecologist, they, yeah, we're gonna go ahead and restrict, uh, visitor access to a place, but they understand.
Ian: Of course, monitoring Big horn sheep access to resources in these areas is a big deal. In order to get the best results, Joshua Tree National Park had to take a critical step in building an understanding of Big Horn sheep, and that's by collecting.
Michael: The park decided to put forward a proposal on a project about three or four years ago to put these collars on bighorn sheep, and it literally is like a necklace that we put on the sheep. Everybody, I think can imagine what a collar looks like. But we went out and we collared 16 animals. And the idea there is that they, you know, these collars talk to the satellites above 'em and they store data on board. I can even look on my computer, my laptop right now and check it out. Where are the sheep at? And we put those collars on the animal to really see what habitats are using. Are they going into areas that has a lot of visitor interaction? Like, uh, the real Hidden Valley, for example, you know, has thousands of visitors every year, or are they choosing habitats that are very rouged , you know, very rugged and don't see visitors at all. So we're almost at the end of that study. We're still collecting data. Um, but what we are seeing is that few places are very important to Bighorn sheep. They go there a lot, they hide. I think it's a lot of predator evasion at that point. So they can, if they hang out in these locations, then they don't get predated as much by Mountain Lion. So right now we are looking at that, you know, and we, we have really cool data on our visitors as well. Like where are they going and how many, um, through Cheerio counters, but also just, you know, watching, you know, making observations. Oh yeah, Barker Dam had, you know, 550 people on the trail today, for example. And then we look at how many points are, you know, how many times are the bighorn sheep in those area? When they have that many, uh, people around. And so this is a second time we've looked at this. We looked at it back in the late nineties, and they found really interesting things. Like, for example, on the weekends, the bighorn sheep would avoid these areas with a lot of visitors. Um, but the instant it became quiet, let's say on Monday or Tuesday, um, of the week, they would go back into these areas. Now that was back in the nineties. You know, when basically we had under a million people, I think it was 800,000 visitors or so. So we are really concerned about. This, you know, expansion of visitation in the park to almost 3 million visitors. And would they then have that persistent, constant, um, presence at these areas instead of like before, whereas only the weekend was busy. Now we're starting to see the weekend and the weekdays busy even in the summer. So we are really concerned about that increase in visitation and that effect it could have on the sheep. So the technology is really , these collars talk to the satellites. I can see it on my laptop, and we can see these movements and shifts in their patterns and how they use the habitats when there's a lot of people, or not so much, many people. So we're really trying to really focus in on, you know, how do the big horn sheep really get affected by visitation in the park or visitors walking around. Um, for example, if there was a time period where they're lambing. . Yeah. You know, we can see, okay, when they do their lambing, it happens to be in this area. So the used, the pregnant used really like to go into areas that are secluded. Um, they're solitary, they're by themselves, but they're very, um, in tune to those sites in, in the fact of going back to them yearly to lamb in the same basic locations. So we really want to figure out where are those locations And um, so for example, in the future, if we're talking about putting in a trail or something, or back country camping area, we are gonna make sure that it's not in those areas that the sheep are lambing, it's just too important of a time for them. So that's one of the ways we're using these technology to guide our management into the future. Donovan: As we've already stated, ensuring adequate water for the big horn sheep is a very important part of the conservation process here at Joshua Tree National Park. But that's not the only adversity that big horn, sheep face.
Michael: So there really is a problem with pets in parks and pets really are, you know, they're close to us. We love them. You know, personally, I have a dog. There's just certain areas of the, the country or or certain places that I just will not take my dogs and national parks are one of 'em. They really do have an effect on wildlife and everyone that, that brings their pets to the parks or to these areas should really be aware that, you know, they, they can have a real negative effect on big horn sheep and desert tortoise and, and things like that Inside the park. Um, other places, other national parks have the same problems. The marm and Picas on that trail. And Rocky Mountain National Park is another one where these critters are just walking around the trail by the trail and then someone with a dog bringing it on. And all of a sudden all those critters take off. So wildlife understand and really know, um, when there's a predator in their. Dogs and cats and things like that are instantly known by, you know, wildlife cud in on this, that these are predators. And so just the fact that your, your pet may have been in an area will displace things like bighorn sheep. They'll smell the, the, either the, the leavings or droppings from the dog or cat, or they'll basically be scared of the barking or other things like that. So, Really, we want people to enjoy wildlife and pets in these areas, prevent that, and so, . There's also further issues with even things like disease. So one example that we had in the park where it was particularly bad is that we had, um, canine distemper go through a population of fox and we're finding dead fox all throughout the park. The issue here is that canine distemper can be carried by your pet and brought into the park into an area were animals are not vaccinated against that. The fox aren't, you know, given shots every year by veterinarians to prevent things like, you know, parvo or any of these other diseases that are common in our pets and treatable. Um, the wildlife aren't treatable, you know, so when we find that there's a problem, it's usually because there's a bunch of dead ones. Let's us be a visitor to these areas as well. We go in, we enjoy it, and we leave. Because the primary focus of these areas is the preservation of the natural and cultural artifacts in these areas. So I, I really, truly believe, let's give wildlife a rest or some reprieve from pets. Things especially like dogs to go about and do their business.
Ian: When discussing how our pets and other actions we can take, while visiting can affect the chances of seeing rare wildlife. It's important to remember that those aren't the only species that a wildlife ecologist will work. Sometimes a more common species of animals, visitors will see in the park can actually be a unique task for a wildlife ecologist simply because their management overlaps with other park objectives. Bats, are an extremely common site for those staying into the night to cam or stargaze, and they are an important part of Michael's role here.
Michael: Yeah, yeah. We have some really interesting, um, species of bats in the park as well as abundances. It's, it's actually quite interesting. Um, our, our most numerous bat is called the canyon bat. Used to be called the Western Estro Bat, but now it's called the Canyon Bat. And so if you come to Joshua Tree National Park and you're looking around at night, maybe you're camping in one of our campgrounds or something, and you look up.
Very frequently you'll see hundreds if not thousands of bats flying around. These are called canyon bats, and what's really cool about these canyon bats is they live in the cracks of the rocks and other places, even trees they'll roost in, but they're definitely our most numerous species of bat in the park. The other really interesting species we get is called a yellow bat, and the bat is just like what? It sounds like it's yellow. These yellow bats live in palm trees only, which is actually really kind of cool because we have Palm Oasis in Joshua Tree, so the bats are up in those skirts that live underneath those palm trees. They're a bigger bat, but they, they are yellow and they're really interesting. The other third dynamic or, or kind of situation that's kind of interesting to Joshua Tree is the abandoned mines. So we literally have hundreds of old abandoned mines that were once part of the gold and silver prospecting era in the park, and we have a rich history of mines in the park, places like Desert Queen mine. The problem is, is that these mines are d. The, the park is actively saving these mines. So we put in devices over the holes, down in the, um, the attics and shafts and other things in these mines to keep people out or keep them safe, but allow the bats to fly in and out so we produce or make these things called bat gates. We're literally, we weld post together so narrow that we can't get our heads through or people can't get into, but the bats are allowed to freely fly in and out. So that's, it's really kind of a fun program or project in the sense of, you know, we're, we're making the landscape safe, but we're also allowing that habitat that they've found. You know, these, these mines are not natural. You know, they were put in by people back in the early 19 hundreds looking for gold and silver. But the bats found them and made them their homes. So we go ahead and we safe them up. And sometimes it's a cupola over the hole on the top. Sometimes it's just bars inside the, uh, mine itself but for visitors to the park, I would say, yeah, enjoy these mines when you come across 'em. They're definitely, uh, uh, history, a rich history for the park, so enjoy it. But be really careful around these mines. Um, people slide in them, fall in them all the time, and it's usually a pretty serious situation, getting them out.
Donovan: A special quality of Joshua Tree National Park, I personally love is when camping in the park. Bugs are often not an issue. Of course, the dry desert climate can be thanked for that, but bats also deserve special appreciation when it comes to balancing insect populations within the park.
Michael: Yeah. So bats in the park. Yeah. Like you mentioned are, are really numerous. Um, we find, uh, a lot of these canyon bats, you know, at night, especially in areas like Barker Dam or Hidden Valley, some of these camping areas, they are big time, you know, nighttime, insect de wars, basically they eat a lot of bugs at night. So even though the desert, you think of the desert doesn't have a lot of mosquitoes or some of these other Critters or nighttime critters. We do have a lot of others and the bats are very important at balancing that. So we would have huge insect outbreaks in the park if we didn't have all these thousands of canyon bats basically taking away the problem for us. So they are also known to really, uh, process those dead insects and basically their feces are very rich um, in minerals and nutrients. You've probably. , um, ba guano, but bat guano, um, was once used very heavily for fertilizers, so they would put it in fertilizers for people's gardens and things like that. We've now gone to more pro, you know, synthetic things like Miracle Grow, but back in the day it was bat guano. So ba guo is very rich, high-end nutrients and minerals, and so it really helps plant and other things like that. So part of that whole nutrient cycle of things. So bats are definitely something we watch for. And in fact, one of the things we do in the park is monitor for white nose syndrome. So we set up bats or bat nets, which is really interesting at night, at a few places in the park and, um, capture the bats, handle them, and swab them for white nose syndrome. Now, I must say that, you know, handling bats is definitely something you have to do delicately. They have very sharp teeth, it's very interesting. But they also carry rabies. So all of us are working with bats, um, in the wildlife, uh, um, branches here at Joshua Tree have rabies vaccines. So we're all vaccinated against rabies so that we can handle these bats safely. So if you ever see a bat, you know, flopping around, you probably heard this before, you know, leave it there. Contact a ranger. Contact your local wildlife officials. That may be the sheriff's department, even in your community or animal control. Um, but it's very important that we figure out where, you know, rabies is, or maybe the bat was sick from white nose syndrome or something. So it's very important to report these kind of wildlife doing interesting things or wildlife doing very, um, you know, abnormal things, you know, so that bat, you know, flying around during the day, but landing nearby, acting all funny is something to. You know, concerned about, and you should report that one thing that's really local, um, to this area or in to Southern California is, um, palm trees. And interestingly enough, palm trees are very important for bats. You know, those yellow bats, like I mentioned before, really use those skirts underneath the palm trees.
So if you do have palm. Um, you know, resist that, uh, uh, feeling that you need to clean it up and, you know, chop down all those dead, you know, branches that we call the Petticoat, they hang down. So if you leave that petticoat, you'll actually be creating wildlife habitat for bats. You know, I've been trying to figure out a way to use bat boxes or bat nest boxes or really popular in the Midwest and the East Coast.Um, but they don't seem to work out here in, in the desert. So, you know, we've tried 'em a few times. To either get too hot or for whatever reason don't work. Another thing with the, the mines and the caves, if you're visiting them, you know, if there's bats in those caves, they may be, um, displaced. You walk in during the middle of the day and all of a sudden the bats all fly out. Um, obviously those. Bats are gonna have a bit of a hardship. They're gonna have to find a place to roost really quickly, and that may be near predator or something like that. So we do ask people to stay outta minds as much as possible, you know, enjoy 'em on the landscape. Take a look, but don't go inside 'em.
Ian: We've clearly established that Michael plays an important role here at the park from managing wildlife species to collecting data and making important decisions. However, he's not alone and like many things in the National Park Service, it's a team effort. So managing wildlife in a national park is quite diverse.
Michael: You know, we count species, we watch over species, but we also monitor, you know, general health of, of wildlife. But to be honest, I heavily rely on our partners, our partners in the USGS that do a lot of our research on disease or research on population Issues, but also, um, disease labs and veterinarians within the park service and the state of California.
You know, I'm always sending samples around from one place to the next. So I can't be an expert of, you know, all these things like, uh, you know, disease and pathogens. But what I am very good at is I can get those samples to the lab to do that. Really what I have in my role here at Joshua Tree is to really, I need to be able to understand all of the science, all of the disease issues, and all of those things that I learn, you know, from others. Yeah, wildlife management is really fun, but a lot of times in the park it's, I'm collecting the samples, I'm finding the dead animals on the landscape or something that's happened and I'm reporting that to the folks that can study that. So a, a perfect example of this would be our distemper outbreak in foxes. We were just going out to check a wildlife camera out in the Coxcomb Mountains and, oh, look at this two dead kit, Fox, very near the water source. So that was a concern. And so I called up our wildlife veterinarian in Colorado. The parks are, was wildlife, veterinarian, and told her about it and. We said, okay, let's go back out there and collect an animal. Lo and behold, when we went back out, there's two more dead, uh, kit fox in that area. So we collected one, we sent it off, found out it was canine distemper. I really, you know, a big part of my job is actually these partnerships and collaborations, um, with researchers around me. You know, that that can answer these things for us. So it has to be collaborative. You can't just work in a vacuum and, and manage wildlife at Joshua.
Donovan: Whether it's leaving the buildup of dead, Frans, also known as the skirt on the palm trees to help provide habitat for bats or not taking your pets on trails to prevent big horn sheep from getting sick or even driving the speed limit to keep desert tortoises safe from getting struck by vehicles. There are many behaviors that we as visitors to the space can do to help wildlife populations, but there is a bigger issue that will need us to go beyond individual action in order to help Joshua Tree National Parks Wildlife.
Michael: Deffects is starting to weave into so much of our management, um, in national parks. What we're really seeing is changes in vegetation. I, and I would have to say that, you know, with the changes in vegetation, you have changes in wildlife. And we're starting to see this now, we're starting to see certain species of birds moving up an elevation where they just can't survive at areas that have lower rainfall or they're experiencing more droughts. We're really seeing a bunch of issues in the park with shifts in wildlife where they're living. Um, even recruitment of certain plants, you know, elevations that they once could do it now they can't. Um, but it is starting to get woven into every single one of Uh, decisions around managing wildlife is this kind of unknown factor of what climate change will do. We have predictions, we have models for the park on different wildlife species. We have desert tortoise models where we've looked at climate change effects and pushed temperatures up and then these models tell us, oh, they're not gonna live in these areas anymore. They're gonna live in these areas instead. And a lot of times that's smaller, you know, smaller areas.
Ian: As the natural world changes around us, our relationship with wildlife shifts and changes. In turn, people worldwide have a variety of reasons for caring about wildlife. And it holds meaning in multiple contexts and cultures, whatever reason draws you to the natural landscape in hopes of spotting something alive and wild It's important to remember that experiencing sightings of wildlife means you have to pay attention. Turning on your listening ears and using your watchful eyes, paying attention to the world around you is an important way to show appreciation and love for our natural environments. And learning to pay attention can teach us a lot about a unique and special place.
Michael: Joshua Tree National Park watching wildlife in the desert is actually, it's quite difficult. And that is just because deserts don't have a lot of, you know, abundance. So, you know, going to a very wet park, let's say you're going into, um, Olympic National Park up there where it's basically Pacific Rainforest, you have a huge chance of seeing wildlife really around any bend, look over a rock, or under, you know, over a log and you’re going to see something in the desert, it takes. , uh, you need to be, you know, slow and quiet looking around you, you know, at all scales, looking at your feet, looking out hundreds of yards, um, and taking it slow. The other thing I would say is it really depends on the time of year, you know, if you're gonna be out in July and August the middle of the day looking for wildlife, you're gonna have one heck of a hard time because guess what? You're the gonna be the only one out in the middle of everything, in the middle of the hot day. Everything else is gonna be down in their burrows or hidden or someplace where it's cooler than sitting out in the sun. So, timing is everything. You know, in the springtime, in the desert, especially in Joshua Tree, when there's a wildflower bloom and all that's going on is a really good time to see wildlife. You know, there's a lot of things moving. So, you know, early morning hours late, you know, early evening hours. These are times when most of our critters are doing most of. For foraging or feeding or whatever it might be. And then they limit their activity during the day. So if I would say, yeah, I wanna see a lot of wildlife in Joshua Tree, what do I do? I would say, come in the spring and fall. Um, get up, you know, early and look for that, those critters moving around in the early morning and then the early evening. And you'll be surprised on the amount of wildlife they'll be running around. But if you come in the middle of the. Um, then maybe wait till it's warm in the middle of the day and you're gonna have a better chance at seeing.
Donovan: As interpreters, we want our visitors to see as much wildlife as they can while visiting the park. Honestly, nothing is better than getting to hear a junior ranger story of a kangaroo rat in their campsite, or a lifelong traveler's first encounter with a bobcat crossing the trail, and I gotta say, I'm the same way.
Ian: I also wanna see those amazing creatures, but to ensure the chances of these sightings, we have to make sure the population of wildlife within the park remains healthy. I always think of the words of scientists and author, Robin Wall Kimmer to love a places not enough. We must find ways to heal it.Healing and ensuring wildlife wellbeing can be the actions you take during a trip to Joshua Tree National Park, but can also be what you do within your own homes and.
Donovan: Exactly. And while in the park, there are a few easy steps that you can take that you've probably heard of before. Things like making sure that no trash gets left behind or driving the speed limit and not taking any pets on trails, although many factors that are affecting wildlife that Michael mentioned might feel as if they are out of reach of change, but we have to start somewhere. Good practices of respecting wildlife while visiting the park and at home are just some of the many actions to lower our impacts.
Ian: Exactly. And sharing what you learn and continuing conversations is critical.
Donovan: Speaking of sharing what you learn, While working on this episode, did you learn any new animal facts in the process?
Ian:Uh oh. This again? Uh, alright. It is probably that the desert tortoise can hold its splatter for over several months in order to combat periods of drought. Honestly, I can't even fathom living like that. Since living here, I've always subscribed to the stay hydrated lifestyle. .
Donovan: Okay. Alright, well I guess we'll end on that. Have patience, be curious, and keep learning and stay hydrated apparently.
Donovan: Where two Deserts Meet is an official production of Joshua Tree National Park, co-hosted and written by Donovan Smith and Ian Chadwick, produced and edited by Donovan Smith. We would like to extend special things to Michael Voad for taking the time to talk with us. Sharon Lee Hart for letting us use her artwork titled Split as the Cover Art for Where Two Deserts Meet and Bar Stool for their songs. Slow Lane Lover Lanky Lockley Fells and Feather Soft. For more information about the park, please visit our park website at www.nps.gov/jotr. Happy trails!
Description
Joshua Tree National Park is home to hundreds of different species of wildlife, including roughly 250 different species of birds and about 150 types of mammals and reptiles. Join Donovan and Ian in episode 3 as they speak with Wildlife Biologist, Michael Vamstad. It's Michael's job to monitor and work with the wildlife species within the park, some which require special attention.
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