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The Joshua tree is cherished for its distinctive silhouette and singular role as a linchpin of the Mojave Desert ecosystem. Yet the iconic succulent is losing suitable habitat at a brisk clip due to climate change, worsening wildfires and development, scientists and environmental advocates say. A new plan by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to ensure the Joshua tree’s survival calls for limiting development in certain areas, including those where the plant may be able to thrive in a future anticipated to be warmer and drier, even as other portions of its range become uninhabitable. The draft plan also calls on government agencies to develop strategies to mitigate and fight wildfires that threaten Joshua trees.

Oregon wildlife biologist Eric Forsman has been at the forefront of protecting the northern spotted owl for a half-century. His groundbreaking research on how logging Pacific Northwest forests impacted the raptor turned spotted owls into champions of the environmental movement. Despite his legacy, Forsman, 77, is among those questioning a plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to save the imperiled birds by sanctioning the potential killing of 450,000 barred owls in Washington, Oregon and California. Like in much of Western Washington, barred owls have become a predominant predator on the Whatcom County landscape, often seen perched atop trees in  Bellingham parks, neighborhoods or soaring over farm fields. Longtime local birders say they’ve never seen a spotted owl.

Hurricane Helene wrought devastation on the Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where the Cartner family has been growing trees for more than six decades.  The storm, which killed more than 100 people when it reached western North Carolina in late September, destroyed thousands of trees — but not all of them. First lady Jill Biden on Monday unveiled one of the surviving trees, a 20-foot Fraser fir, as this year’s White House Christmas tree. “The Cartner family lost thousands of trees in the storm, but this one remained standing,” the first lady said Monday, accompanied by grandson Beau Biden, Jr. “And they named it Treemendous for the extraordinary hope that it represents.” Read the White House Press Release here

The western U.S. has a debt to pay, one that has been piling up interest for over a hundred years. “If there’s an accumulation of fuel, it’s due for a fire. It’s a fire debt,” said Danny Whatley, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. “If you don’t pay it this year, it’s due next year. And if you forego, it’s just a bigger debt every year you put it off.” Western forests want to burn. Decades of federal fire suppression policies aimed at extinguishing all blazes have allowed forests to grow dangerously dense creating conditions for wildfires to get out of control. Many of the estimated 99 million people living near overgrown forests are now coming to accept this wildfire paradox – that more fire is how they make payment and save the place they love.

DNA samples from one of the world’s largest and oldest plants — a quaking aspen tree (Populus tremuloides) in Utah called Pando — have helped researchers to determine its age and revealed clues about its evolutionary history. By sequencing hundreds of samples from the tree, researchers confirmed that Pando is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old, verifying previous suggestions that it is among the oldest organisms on Earth. They were also able to track patterns of genetic variation spread throughout the tree that offer clues about how it has adapted and evolved over the course of its lifetime. The findings were posted on the bioRxiv preprint server on 24 October.The work has not yet been peer reviewed.

Nicole Hynson normally gets roped in to help when all else fails. The conservation biologist from the University of Hawaii is involved in bringing back all kinds of critically endangered plants from the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, she’s kept busy in her home state, Hawaii, which is also known as the extinction capital of the world. Her latest conservation target is a flowering tree that’s fighting a losing battle in the wild: the Gardenia brighamii, or, as it’s known among some local communities, the na’u. The na’u is one of three gardenia species endemic to the archipelago. The na’u’s crowning glory is its fragrant flower, a pearly blossom that was once frequently woven into traditional floral wreaths called leis.

Trucks line an unpaved road about 50 minutes up Robinette Mountain Road near Dayton, Washington. Crews are ready to burn over 37 acres at the Rainwater Wildlife Area. As wildfire season winds down, crews around Washington and Oregon perform prescribed fires. Lindsay Chiono is a wildlife habitat ecologist with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. During this burn, she’s also the firing boss. That means she’s guiding the lighters — the people setting the fire. “We’ve tried to burn this unit for three years in a row. Just a few weeks ago was summer, and high fire hazard. So it’s a small window up this high elevation,” she said. Chiono and 22 members from tribal, governmental and private organizations performed the prescribed fire on the tribe’s lands in late September.