“We’ve lost a huge area of native vegetation,” said Debra Hughson, deputy superintendent for the Mojave National Preserve. “A lot of pinyon [pines], junipers gone forever, and a lot of the Joshua trees, likely.”
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Most ecosystems are not adapted to massive wildfires. We’re seeing exceptionally large and damaging fires in places that either don’t typically see them, or see them on a much smaller scale. In the places that do normally get them, they’re becoming far too intense for the ecosystems to handle, and are happening far outside of normal wildfire season.