The Wild Ones : Coachella Valley’s Living Desert Serves as Oasis of Preservation for Many Species

In proposing desert nature reserves, we should think of small ones as well as large ones. Small reserves to protect a particular landmark or other natural feature can be very satisfying. But large ones are most to be sought, for desert connotes vastness, great sweeps of land untouched by the often grimy hand of man, who is given to taking over the land and cluttering it with his “developments” of roads, subdivisions, etc.

--E. Jaeger, “The California Deserts,” 1933

On your last visit to Palm Springs or Palm Desert, did you see more shops than succulents, more condos than cacti? Are you looking for an escape from Fairway Living and Rodeo Drive East?

Try the Living Desert, an oasis within the oasis. Here’s your chance to see Palm Springs wildlife, not to be confused with the Palm Springs wild life that’s enjoyed by the thousands of college students who party hearty during spring break.

Situated in Coachella Valley’s Palm Desert, just around the corner from golf courses and neatly manicured subdivisions, the 1,200-acre Living Desert reserve provides visitors with a superb introduction to desert plant life, land forms and wildlife. It’s a combination botanical garden hiking area and an accredited zoo. The nonprofit facility is dedicated to conservation, education and research.

The reserve’s botanical gardens represent major desert regions, including California’s Mojave, Arizona’s Sonoran and Mexico’s Chihuahua. Among the assortment of about 1,000 species of plants found here are smoke trees and saguaros, palo verde and palms, brittle bush and barrel cactus. The reserve maintains a well-stocked nursery, where visitors may purchase many native plants.

Wildlife-watchers will enjoy observing animals rarely glimpsed in the wild. Among the species housed here are coyotes in their burrows and bighorn sheep perched on the rocky peaks of their enclosure. The walk-through aviary allows up-close views of a number of desert birds, and a pond includes water-loving species, including turtles, tortoises and the rare desert pupfish.

Other exotic species here are the endangered slender-horn gazelle and the Arabian oryx, often referred to as “the unicorn of the desert.”

The Living Desert is currently abuzz with the news that a breeding pair of zebras was recently acquired and will soon be housed at the facility. Plans are in the works for a 26,000-square-foot exhibit called Eagle Canyon, which will spotlight threatened and endangered species, including the magnificent golden Eagle. Officials expect it to be completed by 1992.

The reserve’s animal adoptions program allows individuals or groups, such as school classrooms, to donate funds for the care and feeding of species ranging from beetles to bighorns. Stumped by what to get Uncle Harry for his next birthday? Why not a year’s care of a kit fox or screech owl?

Educational Programs

Children especially delight in the educational programs offered in the Discovery Room, where they participate in a variety of hands-on activities. Each year, the slide shows, guided tours, lectures and presentations provide a comprehensive introduction to desert wonders to more than 10,000 schoolchildren.

But it’s the grounds of the reserve and the trails that lead away from the buildings that best capture the heart of the Living Desert. Here the reserve becomes what the great desert naturalist Edmund Jaeger envisioned when he wrote of the necessity for preserving representative sections of the California desert.

Six miles of self-guided trails lead past about 60 interpretive stops. A brittle bush-dotted flood plain and a desert wash with its moisture-loving vegetation of smoke trees, desert willows and palo verde are among the desert ecosystems that can be explored.

Used by Indians

Many of the plants on display were of great use to the original inhabitants of the Coachella Valley, the Cahuilla Indians.

The first part of the walk through the Living Desert uses a nature trail named for Jaeger. Leaving the developed desert behind, a path heads up an alluvial fan, past sand dunes and onto a plain that true desert rats call a bajada. Here you’ll find a quail guzzler, which stores rainwater to aid California’s state bird during the hot summer months. Trails also lead up toward the south slope of Eisenhower Mountain, the 1,952-foot bald peak named for the former president who was a part-time Palm Springs resident.

On the south slope of Ike’s peak is a picnic area and a plaque describing the region’s date industry. The slope of Eisenhower Mountain, or any quiet place in the reserve, is a good spot to contemplate the Coachella Valley, the future of California’s arid lands, the necessity of preserving our dry and empty places.

Calendar of Events

In addition to its exhibits and educational programs, the Living Desert maintains a full calendar of events, including art exhibits and field trips. Newly reopened after its annual summer closure, the Living Desert promises visitors a full day of activities focused on the intriguing world of the desert.

Special activities are also planned. On Oct. 21, there will be the 10th annual Concert on the Green, a fund-raising program featuring the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, conducted by Chris Riddle. On Thanksgiving weekend, a special program titled “Masters in Glass” will feature glass-blowing demonstrations and the sale of fine glassware.

The Living Desert is at 47000 Portola Ave., Palm Desert 92260; phone (619) 346-5694. The reserve is open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admission for adults, $5; children 6-15, $2; 5 and under, free. Seniors 62 and older pay $4.50.

Directions: From Highway 111 in Palm Desert, turn south on Portola Avenue and drive 1 1/2 miles south to the park.