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Plants of the Palm Family

Date palms and Mexican palms have been planted at developed sites throughout the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada and Arizona. The Mexican palms are native to Baja and it is unclear if the first ones to arrive in the Lake Mead area were planted by westerners, Native Americans, or if they arrived there on their own. The trees are now naturalized at springs throughout the park, and some naturalists contend that they should be removed to restore the original character of the landscape. I disagree. Although the trees grow well at the springs, they are hardly invasive, and they could have easily arrived there on their own, if not in the past, then in the future, if we had not interferred.

The palm trees are one of the features of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area that draw me back there frequently. The springs in the desert seem like a real oasis with the palm trees there. If we were to remove the palm trees to restore the historical character of the place, then we should also remove the artificial lake, roads, and campgrounds. Or keep the trees and acknowledge that we have modified the landscape. It isn't bad, just different from what might have been there before.