A look into the Joshua Tree National Park service project

Wilderness Volunteers hosted our first service project with Joshua Tree National Park last month and we were able to help their trail crew finish a needed project refinishing the cholla cactus garden trail  and making it more accessible to visitors.

Volunteer Tom Coroneos documented his experience on his 18th WV project and created this lovely video. Take a look and hopefully you can join us next year when WV returns to Joshua Tree NP in 2016.


Joshua Tree Wilderness Volunteers 2015 from Tom Coroneos on Vimeo.

The full 2016 schedule will be released in early December. Spring projects are available right now on the WV website.

Amazing time-lapse photography of our National Parks

Our friends at The Wilderness Society shared a wonderful post featuring some gorgeous time-lapse photography of our National Parks. Below are a few of our favorites, where we also happen to have projects in 2015!

Yosemite National Park - June 7-13, 2015
There may still be time to throw your pack in the car and join WV in giving back on a backpack adventure in this outstanding National Park. This time-lapse is jaw-droppingly beautiful, but that's not surprising in Yosemite.

via Project Yosemite

Joshua Tree National Park - October 11-18, 2015
This Southern California National Park receives more than 1 million visitors, and there's really no question as to why. Our project there is currently full, but you're welcome to add your name to the waitlist in case of a cancellation, which does happen. And you can join us next year as well!

via Gavin Heffernan

Acadia National Park - September 20-26, 2015
Spots remain on our continuing service project in one of the most picturesque, wild places in the northeast. You'll get a good overview of the Park while giving something back.


Acadia National Park from John Fouse on Vimeo.

Zion National Park
Our continuing service project in Zion is currently full for 2015, but you can always visit this gorgeous National Park on your way to other WV service projects on the Colorado Plateau like the San Rafael Swell project or Grand Gulch-Cedar Mesa project that both still have spaces available.

via Matt Bowen

Denali National Park - July 12-18, 2015
WV returns to help maintain the Savage River Trail, a trail we helped build! This project is full for 2015, but stay tuned, as we plan to return in 2016.

via lanesapples

Olympic National Park - October 18-24, 2015
Our continuing project on the Elwha is helping naturalize the area after the dams were removed, in many cases planting saplings from seed previous WV groups helped collect.  Currently this project is full, but you're always welcome on the waitlist in case a cancellation or two occurs.

via Glenn Wadsworth

Big Bend National Park - November 1-7, 2015

Another continuing project, WV will once again return to the jewel on the Rio Grande to give something back with the National Park Service. While this project is full, WV is offering another spectacular trip in Saguaro National Park that has spaces available. 

via Sundance Kid

See the whole TWS blog post for more videos.

Project Spotlight: Mojave National Preserve

A Joshua Tree in Mojave sunset light, photo by Paul Goldberg

Today we spotlight the WV project in the vast Mojave National Preserve, the 3rd largest unit of the National Park System in the contiguous US. Formerly named the East Mojave National Scenic Area and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, these striking 1.6 million acres were established as a preserve on Halloween in 1994 by the California Desert Protection Act, including a 695,000 acre wilderness area. Nestled between highways 15 and 40, the area offers many, many fascinating features and so much to explore. Towering mountain ranges present “sky island” forests of pinyon pine and white fir over great mesas, dry river beds and low-lying deserts featuring impressive sand dunes and beautiful Joshua tree forests.

Hole-in-the-Wall, photo courtesy of the US Dept. of the Interior

An intriguing human history is here to explore alongside unbelievable geological and ecological fascinations. Notable features include the Kelso Dunes, the Marl Mountains and the Cima Dome, which features the largest and densest stand of Joshua trees in the world. Striking volcanic formations such as Hole-in-the-Wall and the Cinder Cone Lava Beds speak to the incredible geology.  2.5 billion year old rocks have been found on the Clark Mountains.

The abandoned Post Office in the ghost town of Kelso, photo by Pierre Camateros

More recent human history can be seen in the preserve’s ghost towns, abandoned mines and the Kelso depot, now part of the visitor center.  Prior to European contact, Mojave tribes such as the Chemehuevi, lived in the mountains and along the Colorado river eating prickly pear, mesquite and roasted agave blooms and hunting deer and bighorn sheep.

A local Mojave tour guide, photo by Paul Goldberg

This dragonfly tried to hitchhike on my car's antenna, photo by Paul Goldberg

Despite appearing as a relatively barren landscape, the area is teeming with varied and interesting animal life including many species endemic to region or otherwise rarely found outside of the preserve. One such example is the Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma scoparia), which is specialized in its ability to "swim" under sand.

Birds, reptiles, rodents, and larger mammals all reside in the area, although where you might find them varies due to temperature, time of day and elevation. A large percentage of desert animals are nocturnal, or active at night, including desert rodents, bats, owls, mountain lion, skunks, and foxes. Other animals in the Mojave are crepuscular, active at dawn and dusk.

Mojave Desert Tortoise populations are threatened, partly because of invasive plants, photo courtesy of NPS

The low regions of the Preserve are arid, with creosote bushes dominating the landscape on over 70% of the Preserve, while the mountains offer varied environments with cooler temperatures.  The service project we’ll be working on will be critical in removing invasive species of Russian thistle at the key moment before they go to seed. We will use a hula hoe, a tool specifically designed for removing thistle. We’ll camp at a comfy developed campsite with running water in the mountains which will serve as a prime location for the project as well as offering plenty of interesting options for us to explore in our free time. Learn more about the WV project in the Mojave National Preserve.

The beautiful solitude of the Mojave National Preserve, photo courtesy of the NPS