Current scientific and policy discourse frames the remote, rural Anza-Borrego Desert region of California as part of the frontline of global climate change and regional drought mitigation. Here, climate extremes shape the dynamic relationships between the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park ecosystem, and residents of the gateway town Borrego Springs. The town’s economy and ecology are dependent on access to scarce groundwater, and on the occurrence of seasonal rainfall leading to wildflower blooms that attract visitors and funnel vital tourist dollars into the local economy. We investigate how climate extremes shape biological, socio-economic, and cultural life in Borrego Springs and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We consider how residents and visitors experience local extremes, and how they imagine the future in an extreme place impacted by climate change. We use a 31-year diversity dataset on a desert guild of annuals from the Sonoran Desert to define the influence of interannual climate variability on wildflower displays. Additionally, we use visitation data to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park over the last 27 years to highlight the correlation between visitation and wildflower blooms. Last, we use qualitative ethnographic data from community histories and interviews with residents to document and interpret contemporary cultural patterns related to extremes.
Results/Conclusions
We found a negative trend in winter growing season precipitation, but that winter annual plant richness persisted through time. Interannual richness varied through time and often tracked precipitation each year. Monthly visitation rates tracked precipitation, peaking during the end of the winter growing season when wildflowers reach their peak bloom in March. The highest monthly levels lagged one month behind precipitation. Extreme maximums reveal that increased precipitation corresponds to increased visitation. Visitation during the wettest years more than doubled from the average. Minimum monthly precipitation was 0 mm for every month, but visitation persisted. However, visitation during the driest years was less than half of the observed average. We identified three thematic clusters that describe how climate extremes currently impact social, political, and cultural life for residents: yearly weather fluctuations that drive a seasonal round of activity; a historically plentiful groundwater source now endangered due to over-pumping; and personal and community identification with “desert extreme” lifestyles. We argue that the anticipatory and cyclic characteristics of this water dependent ecology shape the community holistically, demonstrating a link between its plant life and its possibilities for sustainability.