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Joshua tree woodland is found extensively on the leeward
sides of our mountains in an elevation belt around 4000 ft. This is a community of
drought-deciduous and succulent species, dominated by the characteristic Joshua trees. Winters get below freezing, and there may be a dusting of snow, but these are drought-adapted plants. Mormon tea, bladder sage, Mojave and banana yuccas, beargrass (a group of species convergent with yuccas), and antelope brush are common plants. Antelope ground squirrels, pack rats, Merriam’s kangaroo rats, canyon mice, deer mice, desert night lizards, ladder-back woodpeckers, Scott’s orioles, California towhees, ravens, and Yucca moths are typical animals.