Joshua Trees: Will They Survive

wildfires, climate change, deforestation and failed pollination all pose existential threats to this iconic species.

the remaining forests are forecast to begin extinction as soon as 2100.

Dr. Juniper Harrower

What Holds a Joshua Tree: Roots, Relationships, and Art as Desert Care

Juniper Harrower’s work bridges plant ecology, visual art, and the environmental humanities to illuminate multispecies entanglements under climate change. Born and raised in the Joshua Tree area, she holds a PhD in plant ecology from UC Santa Cruz and an MFA from UC Berkeley. Harrower has collaborated or exhibited with the Getty, California Academy of Sciences, Berkeley Art Museum, Palm Springs Art Museum, and Joshua Tree National Park. Her work has been supported or recognized by Creative Capital, the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been featured in National Geographic. She is Assistant Professor and Chair of Studio Art at Reed College.

Sant Khalsa

Desert Forest: Life with Joshua Trees

Sant Khalsa is an artist, educator, curator, and activist whose work develops from a mindful inquiry into complex environmental and societal issues. She is recipient of the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (Legacy Award). Her artworks are internationally exhibited, collected, and published in two monographs and many compilation publications. She curated the Getty supported PST ART: Art & Science Collide exhibition with book “Desert Forest: Life with Joshua Trees.” Khalsa is Professor of Art, Emerita at California State University, San Bernardino.

Casey Kiernan

Documentary short “Joshua Trees: Will They Survive”

Casey Kiernan is a photographer, documentary filmmaker and instructor living in Joshua Tree, California. He teaches photography workshops across the Mojave Desert, specializing in Milky Way photography. Kiernan has been filming the Mojave Desert for over a decade. His Documentary short is titled “Joshua Trees: Will They Survive”.

dr. Sean Milanovich

Humwichawa: A Native Perspective on the Joshua Tree

Sean Milanovich is a member of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. Milanovich holds a PhD in History specializing in Native American History from University of California, Riverside. He is the Vice President of the Native American Land Conservancy and Secretary of the Native Land Trust Council. He loves to hike and explore the homelands of the Cahuilla and bordering lands connecting the cultural sites to the stories of his relatives.

Kim Stringfellow

Transforming the Desert: Utility-Scale Solar in the Mojave

Kim Stringfellow is a visual artist, photographer, writer, educator, and independent curator based in Joshua Tree, California, whose work is deeply engaged with landscapes shaped by human-driven transformation. She is a 2016 Andy Warhol for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow and a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in 2018. Stringfellow is a Professor Emeritus at San Diego State University’s School of Art + Design.