Joshua Tree National Park gets ‘F’ grade in air quality

Joshua Tree’s surreal landscapes and stunning vistas offer a serene escape from urban Southern California. But the national park can’t escape the rampant air pollution that plagues the Coachella Valley and the Los Angeles basin.

In a report released Tuesday, the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association gave Joshua Tree an ‘F’ grade for smog, making it one of four national parks — all in California — that regularly suffer from unhealthy air. Joshua Tree also earned an ‘F’ for climate change impacts, since rising temperatures threaten to wipe out the park's iconic trees.

Overall, Joshua Tree scored fourth-worst on the conservation association’s “air pollution report card,” which looked at 48 national parks. Two other California parks — Sequoia and Kings Canyon, in the southern Sierra Nevada — tied for the worst air pollution in the country. Those three parks all got an ‘F’ for smog, as did Yosemite National Park.

“Air pollution knows no boundaries,” said Ulla Reeves, clean air program manager for the conservation association. “Unfortunately, that area of California is home to two of the busiest north-south trucking highways and diesel freight corridors.”

The report examined 48 national parks. The National Parks Conservation Association found that three-quarters of those parks sometimes experience air quality that is “moderate” or worse, putting individuals with asthma and other respiratory conditions in harm’s way.

Air pollution can also ruin the views that helped draw nearly 300 million people to National Park Service locations each year. Nationwide, the report found, park visitors miss out on an average of 50 miles of scenery due to haze.

In Joshua Tree National Park, Reeves said, natural visibility can extend 200 miles on a clear day. But on average, the park’s 1.6 million annual visitors are seeing about 90 miles.

Peter Spurr, a real estate broker in the town of Joshua Tree, said in the report that clean air and health ecosystems are an economic necessity for the communities that surround the park.

“I can say with complete certainty that most people looking to purchase property in this area are compelled and driven by those very resource amenities — scenic vistas, animals and plants — and will pay more for them,” he said.

The Environmental Protection Agency is working on a plan to toughen federal air-quality standards for smog, which could lead to improved air quality in Joshua Tree and low-income communities in the eastern Coachella Valley.

The current federal smog standard is 75 parts per billion, but many scientists and public health experts — including the American Lung Association — have argued that a 60 parts per billion standard is needed to protect public health. Business groups have pushed back against changing the current standard, arguing that doing so could stifle economic growth.

Sammy Roth writes about energy and water for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at sammy.roth@desertsun.com, (760) 778-4622 and @Sammy_Roth.