UC Berkeley postdoctoral researchers Maya Zomer and Lucia Layritz were stunned by the scale of destruction when they visited Mojave National Preserve after the 2020 Dome Fire, which burned more than a million Joshua trees across 43,000 acres.
Despite the devastation, they observed green resprouts and wildflowers emerging among the charred stumps, signaling some natural resilience.
However, researchers warn that hotter, drier conditions and the spread of nonnative grasses are driving larger, more frequent wildfires in a desert ecosystem that did not evolve with such fires.
Joshua trees take up to 70 years to become reproductive, and many resprouts are now growing in conditions too harsh for long-term survival.
Scientists at Berkeley's Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science & Environment have partnered with the National Park Service to develop digital tools that address the lack of rapid, desert-specific fire assessment methods.
Existing satellite-based burn severity indices designed for forests do not work well in desert landscapes, so the team created a Disturbance Severity Tool to quickly map what burned, where, and how badly.
The tool was used for the first time after the 2024 Eureka Fire in Joshua Tree National Park, which burned just over 200 acres, and again after the 2025 Black Rock Fire, which burned 72 acres.
Park staff combined the tool's output with field assessments to evaluate fire severity and develop recovery plans for both incidents.
With new digital tools, UC Berkeley researchers are helping Joshua trees survive wildfires
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