by Dick Hingson
The heart of Joshua Tree National Monument in Southern California is a magical place of rock castles and once-silent desert vistas. Joshua Tree is being overrun by frequent military ground-level jet flights.
This observer learned this dramatically with friends last April, while on two different camping trips in widely separated parts of the park. Stunned, terrified even-as well as angered-by incessant Navy planes suddenly screaming low overhead, we phoned Park Superintendent Rick Anderson. He confirmed that the Navy uses a recently-authorized Military Training Route through the park, plus a number of instrument flying routes.