Cameron Barrows of the UCR Center for Conservation Biology and Colin Barrows of Friends of the Desert Mountains will discuss the National Monument. Spanning the entire southern skyline of the Coachella Valley, the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is a truly unique landscape. The Monument has the steepest vertical rise of any mountain range in North America, more lizard species than any other National Park or Monument in the United States, and plant species that occur nowhere else on Earth. For millions of years, The Monument has provided refuge to an amazing diversity of life as the climate has shifted from warm periods to ice ages, and back again. In the face of unprecedented human-caused climates shifts, will this biodiversity hotspot be able to persist? Learn how we are dozens of energetic and enthusiastic “community scientists” working to answer this question, and find out what you can do to help!

This is part of the series, presented by the University of California Riverside in partnership with Friends of the Desert Mountains, investigating the history and habitat of the Coachella Valley and beyond. Each free lecture is open to the public.

To RSVP, visit: https://palmdesert.ucr.edu/wild-coachella-lecture-series