Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park
IUCN category II (national park)[1]
Cyclops and Pee Wee Formations near Hidden Valley Campground at dawn
Location in California Show map of California Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Riverside County and San Bernardino County, California, United States
Nearest city	Twentynine Palms
Coordinates	34°06′N 116°16′W / 34.1°N 116.27°W / 34.1; -116.27
Area	795,156 acres (1,242.4 sq mi; 3,217.9 km2)[2]
Established	August 10, 1936 (1936-08-10) as a national monument October 31, 1994 (1994-10-31) as a national park
Visitors	3,058,294 (in 2022[3])
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	nps.gov/jotr

Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) native to the Mojave Desert. Originally declared a national monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was redesignated as a national park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act.^[4] Encompassing a total of 795,156 acres (1,242.4 sq mi; 3,217.9 km²)^[2] – slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island – the park includes 429,690 acres (671.4 sq mi; 1,738.9 km²) of designated wilderness. Straddling San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, the park includes parts of two deserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the higher Mojave Desert and the lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains traverse the southwest edge of the park.^[5]