Restoration at Prescott Preserve: The First Year – Notes from the Field

Wild Seed Hunting Across Local Canyons

Restoration starts with authentic, hyper-local genetics! To ensure our future native plants can withstand extreme desert heat and local conditions, our biology team expanded wild seed harvesting trips across surrounding natural spaces, including Oswit Canyon, Palm Hills, Happy Valley, and the Robert and Julie Lu Burrowing Owl Reserve.

• Wild Collections: Staff and volunteers hand-collected seeds from hardy native species like California Croton, Pencil Cholla, Creosote, and Brittlebush.

• Matched to Local Soils: Our team hand-collected and processed 844 wild legume seeds directly from local alluvial fan habitats. Delivering these directly to our propagation partners ensures the plants grown for Prescott Preserve will naturally match our site’s exact soil chemistry and microclimate.

   

Up-Close with the Endangered Casey’s June Beetle

One of the most exciting scientific highlights this season took place right here in Palm Springs! Oswit Land Trust staff, College of the Desert (COD) students, and Master Gardeners joined official U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) field surveys to monitor the federally endangered Casey’s June Beetle.

By logging field hours alongside federal biologists, our team is working toward independent recovery permits. This will allow OLT staff to directly monitor and protect this rare local species in-house for years to come.

Deep-Root Growing & Greenhouse Milestones

Inside the nursery, our native plant pipeline is growing stronger every month:

• Greenhouse Success: Working at the College of the Desert Agricultural Sciences facility, our team optimized year-round propagation techniques, cultivating healthy cohorts of Four-wing Saltbush, Brittlebush, Desert Lavender, and Cheesebush.

• Deep-Root Containers: Through our long-term growing contract with Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT), native trees and shrubs are being raised in specialized, extra-deep 6×16 and 11×24 inch containers. This extra depth allows vertical taproots to grow long and straight without spiraling, giving young plants maximum resilience once returned to the wild.

   

Co-Designing Signage with Agua Caliente

We are deeply honored to continue our close collaboration with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Tribal Historic Preservation Office (ACBCI-THPO). Together, we are co-designing educational and interpretive signs across the Preserve that will celebrate rich tribal culture, history, and local wildlife—including Cahuilla language for native mammals and plants.

500 Hours of Volunteer Power & Community Guidance

Even through the summer heat, our community stepped up in an inspiring way:

• Nursery Family: Volunteers contributed roughly 500 hours at the Prescott Preserve Native Plant Nursery—cleaning wild seed, preparing custom soil mixes, and organizing plant beds to protect young sprouts from intense solar heat.

• Hands-On Learning: Jose Mendoza led specialized propagation and plant-care training days for staff and key volunteers at College of the Desert.

• Connecting Wildlife Corridors: Jose also provided expert native plant guidance to neighboring HOAs and the Friends of Tahquitz Creek restoration project, helping our neighbors select native desert plant palettes that extend continuous habitat corridors across Palm Springs.

Looking Ahead

Ecological restoration is a thoughtful process that unfolds season by season. Every wild seed collected, beetle surveyed, and volunteer hour spent brings us one step closer to bringing this land fully back to life.

Thank you for walking this path with us—we are so grateful for our Prescott Preserve community!