Memories of Pinyon Wells – Joshua Tree NP

2016 – Early October Camping

I spent the second week of October with the bird and mammal department of the San Diego Natural History Museum in Joshua Tree National Park. The site is called Pinyon Wells, and it lies in the middle of the park in a wilderness location against the northern slopes of the Little San Bernardino Mountains. To reach our camp at Pinyon Wells required us to get a “Backcountry Pass” and leave the pavement between Sheep Pass and Jumbo Rocks and head south on a dicey dirt and sand road called Geology Tour Road for 8.5 miles. Unlike the previous outing at Cottonwood Spring at the end of September, we had no power that we didn’t bring ourselves. Nor did we have water we didn’t carry in.

The mission for the museum staff on this outing was to retrace the steps taken by teams of scientists in the early 1900s through the mid-forties. Joseph Grinnell led the teams 75 years ago, and they made copious notes describing the flora and fauna they encountered and the various places they studied throughout the park. Our expedition this week at Pinon Wells primarily retraced the steps of Alden H. Miller and Robert C. Stebbins. And while Stebbins was well respected for his work with reptiles and amphibians, our mission was primarily to study birds and mammals.

There were some surprises that the team encountered at this location. The first, was the sheer number of small rodents we found. Normally, a good capture rate (catches per trap) is 20-25%. Here the numbers were 75-89%. Some plots yielded 29 animals for 30 live-traps set. To survey from a distance, the arid desolation of this desert would make it easy to dismiss the scene as a barren wasteland, yet life abounds. If one takes the time to investigate, one can find it.

Another surprise was the number of San Diego Pocket Mice we found. This is a species of concern throughout its range. In other areas it faces threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation, however this species was abundant throughout this enormous expanse of open space.

When recording reports from the past, observers mentioned an abundance of Juniper and Pinyon Pines. Sadly, we discovered that the pines were absent except at the highest elevations of the nearby rugged mountains, and we observed only scattered and sporadic Junipers at the lower elevations where we camped. Most of the Joshua Trees were small in stature, and their density diminished as the land sloped up from the washes at the valley floor. Since 1970, wildfires have burned 40% of the park. Add the devastation of drought to the mix, and it’s easy to see how recovery could not keep pace with the losses.

Pinyon Wells Critters

On our trip to Pinyon Wells, I worked with the SDNHM’s Bird and Mammal team. I wasn’t able to document with my camera all the creatures we met out there, but I caught quite a few through my lenses. The mammals I photographed were Desert Woodrat, San Diego Pocket Mouse, Cactus Mouse, Canyon Mouse, Grasshopper Mouse, and Merriam’s Kangaroo Rat.

When I wasn’t busy photographing small mammals or processing my digital harvest, I worked to collect bird images. I didn’t chase the birds so much as pick off those that came by the camp. There were several migrating warblers I missed; a Townsend’s, a Wilson’s, and a Black-Throated Gray. The birds whose images I captured seemed to be residents of this area. The birds I photographed were Bewick’s Wren, Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher, Black-Throated Sparrow, Cactus Wren, House Finch, Rock Wren, Say’s Phoebe, and Verdin, White-Crowned Sparrow.