DesertUSA.com/mb3

Has anyone noticed the interesting desert biome between Searchlight, Nevada, and Nipton, California? It appears to be a small ecosystem that is totally different from the desert that surrounds it in all directions. There is a beautiful Joshua tree forest and a host of cacti, some of which I have never seen north of southern Arizona, including some very large barrel cacti, hedgehogs, and others. I have passed through this area several times in years past, and I find it amazingly beautiful and different from the country that surrounds it, like a natural botanical garden. I am not sure of the extent of this particular plant community, but it is at least a few square miles. I hope to return in the coming year and do a life list. I wonder if there are different animals as well as the different plants.

I have been in that area off roading between Nipton and Searchlight to the south of the 164. I do not recall any special differences. The Mojave Preserve comes to mind and the area to the north of Morning Star rd is dense with flora and in the spring is one of the most dense areas I have ever been.
There are often pockets of particular beauty and diversity in all the deserts I have visited- maybe this was simply one you found yourself in.
Anza Borrego DSP comes to mind as well as JTNP as well as the MP that have areas of extreme health and evenly spaced diversity as if a perfect garden in perfect health had been planted there.

Clifford