Palmdale Passes Joshua Tree Protection Law After 4 Years

Climaxing four years of debate, city officials in Palmdale have given final approval to a law aimed at preserving the area’s Joshua trees, the spiny hulks that are the Mojave Desert’s most distinctive vegetation.

An idea that surfaced in 1988 as one of the city’s most hotly disputed issues finally came to quiet fruition Thursday night when the Palmdale City Council adopted the preservation ordinance by a unanimous 5-0 vote without comment.

Under the measure, which will take effect in about a month, developers who have healthy Joshua trees or California junipers on their land must preserve at least two trees per acre on average. The law governs virtually all residential, commercial and industrial construction.

The measure arose in 1988 during a housing boom when developers were rushing to clear thousands of acres of Joshua tree-covered land to make way for new houses. In the years since, passions cooled as the housing market slumped and developers and preservationists reached agreement.

The measure encourages builders to incorporate the trees, considered by many people as the symbol of the desert, into their projects in areas such as flood control basins and other open spaces. But it also allows other options.

Developers also can satisfy the requirements by transplanting the trees on other property, or donating them to citizens or the city to transplant.

To aid in the process, city officials said they are near agreement with the Air Force to establish a 60-acre “tree bank” across from Air Force Plant 42 where trees can be temporarily stored until new homes are found for them.

Also, developers not saving enough trees on their own property will have to offer them free to the public for 30 days for landscaping.

As a last resort, developers unable to achieve the two-trees-per-acre goal through other means would have to pay the city a proposed fee of $200 per tree.