Joshua Tree National Park Expands by 20,000 Acres, Transferring Management from BLM to NPS

The newly proposed Joshua Tree National Park Expansion Act is pretty straightforward: it’s making the beloved desert park about 20,149 acres bigger. Think of it as adding an entire new section to your favorite hiking spot. This expansion is clearly marked on a map dated June 2024 and officially changes the park’s boundary lines set back in the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 (SEC. 2).

The Big Shift: Who’s Running the Show Now?

This isn't just about adding land; it’s about changing who manages it. Right now, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees this acreage, but the bill transfers administrative control directly to the National Park Service (NPS). For the average visitor, this shift usually means a change in management priorities—NPS tends to focus more heavily on conservation and visitor infrastructure than BLM, which often balances conservation with activities like grazing and resource extraction. For those who live near the new border, this could mean stricter rules about land use and access on the newly designated park land (SEC. 2).

How the Government Buys Up the Desert

To make this expansion happen, the Secretary of the Interior is getting the green light to acquire the land inside the new borders. They have a few tools in the toolbox: they can accept donations, buy land from willing sellers, trade federal land for it, or simply transfer the land if it’s already federal property. This gives the NPS the necessary power to consolidate the new park area, which is key for effective management (SEC. 2).

There’s a specific carve-out for land owned by the State of California or local governments, though. For those parcels, the Secretary cannot use purchase or transfer methods; they can only acquire the land through donation or by trading other property for it. This protects state and local entities from having their land taken through eminent domain or forced transfer for the park expansion (SEC. 2).

Paperwork and Renaming

Beyond the major land changes, the bill includes two smaller administrative items. Section 3 makes a technical correction to an existing law (the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act) by adding the letter 'A' after a specific dollar amount ($156,149,375) every time it appears. This is just cleaning up the legislative text—the funding amount itself isn't changing, just the formatting (SEC. 3).

Finally, the bill renames the existing Cottonwood Visitor Center in Joshua Tree to the Dianne Feinstein Visitor Center. This is a purely symbolic change, applying to the current building and any future replacement facility. If you’re planning a trip, just know the name on the map is changing, but the building is still serving the same purpose (SEC. 4).