VOGUE — In a wilderness area at the northwest corner of Joshua Tree National Park, ecologist Lynn Sweet treks across the high desert as raucous pinyon jays swoop overhead. She navigates carefully across the landscape of blackbrush and fragrant junipers to inspect the stump of a Joshua tree. Much of the tree’s trunk, branches, and dagger-shaped leaves are sprawled across the desert floor—most likely the casualty of a gust of wind that snapped it like a toothpick.
The tree was one of thousands that Dr. Sweet and her team examined in a recent study that predicted a worrisome future for the iconic western Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia, within the national park due to climate change. The tree was less than 25% alive during Dr. Sweet and her team’s last recording. Now, the tree is dead.