The Mojave Desert of Southern California is a place where creatures move and grow at a slow pace. In this vast, harsh landscape, the desert tortoise has served as a hard-working hero that has helped life flourish around it for centuries. But its population has been plummeting for decades, and activists have been working to preserve more than half a million acres that will help the tortoise, and many other species, survive.

In this episode, host Jennifer Errick travels to the Mojave Desert to speak with desert tortoise expert and NPCA California Program Manager Luke Basulto and Executive Director of the Desert Advocate Media Network and 90 Miles from Needles podcast host Chris Clarke. These two long-time desert residents and park advocates talk about how the desert tortoise is critical to the Mojave, why the proposed national monument is a special place for a variety of plants and animals, the special lure that blank spots have on the map, and some of the rare desert sights you can only see at Chuckwalla.

The Secret Lives of Parks is a production of the National Parks Conservation Association.

This episode was produced by Jennifer Errick with help from Todd Christopher, Bev Stanton and Linda Coutant.

Special thanks to NPCA Communications Manager Caitlyn Burford.

Original theme music by Chad Fischer.

Learn more about the Protect California Deserts Coalition at protectchuckwalla.org

Learn more about the Desert Advocate Media Network and listen to Chris Clarke’s 90 Miles from Needles podcast at thedamn.org

Learn more about this podcast and listen to the rest of our stories at thesecretlivesofparks.org

For more than a century, the National Parks Conservation Association has been protecting and enhancing America’s national parks for present and future generations. With more than 1.6 million members and supporters, NPCA is the nation’s only independent, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to protecting national parks.

And we’re proud of it, too.

You can join the fight to preserve our national parks. Learn more and join us at npca.org