PHOTO # 26
For Moapa Palms Reports
Taken in 1995, these palms no longer exist. This view of Warm Springs is from a hill so the palms in the forground appear fairly short. This is somewhat deceptive since some of the palms some yards behind were measured to be between 50 and 70 feet tall. This grove was one of the first to fall to the axe or to be "sold" to casinos in Vegas by the Refuge at Warm Springs. I estimated 200 or more palms were taken from this single location. Most were bulldozed after a fire burned the area just days after this photo.
The refuge claimed that the fire had destroyed the trees. However all the trees on the neighboring property survived although they appeared dead for a short time and they all revived the next year.
The refuge had left their property in a state of overgrown weeds and unkempt for almost 12 years. (Note the extremely flamable skirts (peticoats) on these palms.) They wasted no such time however in bulldozing the burned trees scarcely two weeks later. Washingtonia have long been the subject of planned fires by Aboriginal peoples for centuries.