As firefighters finally made progress on California's largest wildfire of the year, national park officials and ecologists are preparing for irreversible habitat losses.

“We’ve lost a huge area of native vegetation,” said Debra Hughson, deputy superintendent for the Mojave National Preserve. “A lot of pinyon [pines], junipers gone forever, and a lot of the Joshua trees, likely.”

Archive link: https://archive.ph/QUr4r