The Mojave National Preserve was known for being home to the world's largest and densest Joshua tree forest. Then in the summer of 2020, a wildfire sparked by lightning torched through more than 43,000 acres of Cima Dome in the desert, and with it an estimated 1.3 million Joshua trees — about a quarter of its population.
Scientists knew restoration was going to be an uphill battle because of how much time the plant takes to pollinate and grow.
"Joshua trees seeds don't spread very quickly," said Debra Hughson, deputy superintendent at the Mojave National Preserve. "They don't move very fast or they don't move very far with just small mammals around."
During the Ice Age, giant ground sloths that have been described as looking like "fuzzy Volkswagen Beetles" would feed on Joshua trees and spread their seeds far and wide through their excrement. Since the animals became extinct, wind and rodents have taken up the job — with decidedly less success. One scientist told Cronkite News that out of 1,000 Joshua tree seeds, only three or four of them sprout. Even then, the plant grows just half an inch to 3 inches each year.
Against those odds, Cima Dome's recovery felt particularly urgent, since its higher elevation was supposed to shield the plant from hotter, drier — and increasingly inhospitable — weather.
"This is an area where Joshua trees may be able to survive in the face of climate change," Hughson said.
To jump start the process of recovery, Hughson and her colleagues decided to try something different — planting seedlings in the Dome's burn scar.
"What we thought we would do is try to plant Joshua trees in a more spaced-out pattern so that it would accelerate the recovery of the entire area because you would have distributed seed sources. That was generally the idea," Hughson said.
But the process was arduous; the hike to the designated planting spots alone took volunteers several hours.
"It's designated wilderness, so there are no roads. You don't get in your Jeep and drive there with a tank of water in the back or on a trailer. It has to be carried in," said Hughson. "Then once they got there, the actual planting probably took an hour — to erect the cage around it, to dig the little hole to put the seedling in, and to give it its first splash of water. Then you gotta walk all the way back."
And that's where Herbie, Sully and Chico came in.
"Camels helped to survey Route 66 — a little part of it," said Nance Fite, a longtime volunteer at the Mojave National Preserve.
Fite has kept big animals all her life: horses, water buffalos, camels. The 70-year-old Norco resident said the latter have had a long history in the United States.
"The government brought camels into Texas in 1856, and they came across the desert from Texas to Los Angeles in 1857."
Fite replicated that experience by riding her camel along that same portion of the trail through the Mojave in 2007, deepening her link to both the animal and the land. When she heard about the Joshua tree restoration project at Cima Dome, she convinced the park service to let the camels pitch in and help.
"Prehistoric camels were in the Mojave Desert, and the camels came through in 1857," said Fite. "They leave even a smaller footprint than a mule or a horse."
Fite recruited her friend Jennifer Lagusker, who trailered Herbie, Sully, and Chico from her Sylmar home to the Mojave.
"The job was to pack them and have them carry these things into wherever the park service had us go," Lagusker said. "When Nance told me about this, I thought, 'Well, what better way to advocate for the camel than to show the world, hey, they can pack, they really like it, and honestly, they need that kind of a job.'"
Leading the pack is Herbie. "He is my biggest one, my smartest one. He is my go-to when it comes to doing projects we've never done before, like this project," said Lagusker.
Next is Sully. "He doesn't like to be in the front of the line. He likes to keep his nose right next to Herbie's butt — like a security," Lagusker said.
Rounding out the pack is Chico — the smallest of the three — short for Chiquito. "He's very vocal. He has an opinion for everything. When it comes to the three of them, he's the one that tells the others what to do," she said.
Since 2021, the trio has been involved in most of the plantings, with Herbie and Sully carrying the seedlings, and Chico transporting the water on miles-long hikes through the desert.
As soon as a couple months from now, volunteers like Fite and Lagusker and the camels will gear up again for another expedition to Cima Dome. But after 2024, seedling restoration will come to an end for that area.
National Park Service's Hughson said some 3,500 young Joshua trees have been planted since the the project started in 2021, but estimated that the survival rate is just about 20 percent.
"Our goal is to protect natural systems and natural ecosystems — all the plants, all the animals, but then some animals and some plants wind up being just a little bit more 'charismatic' than other ones," said Hughson, meaning that some species command more attention than others.
"The Joshua tree is charismatic, the desert tortoise, the desert bighorn sheep, and so if we can get support and resources to save [them], then everything else comes along with it," Hughson said.
After Cima Dome, the park service will turn their focus to a different fire-scorched area in the Mojave, where another million or so Joshua trees were destroyed by the York Fire in 2023. Hughson said that active restoration — the planting of the seedlings — would likely be undertaken.
If so, Lagusker said her camels are ready to report for duty.
"It's truly incredible to see." said Lagusker. "You pack all of this weight on them, and to see them get up with such ease and just walk. It's like they get in a zone and like a light switch that turns on when you see them caravaning out in the desert."
