Bringing classes to the DSC

Students in the fieldThe Desert Studies Center hosts classes from all over the world, consisting of all ages, topics, and levels. Education is the heart of the mission of the DSC!

Past courses hosted at the DSC have included hydrology, photography, archaeology, geology, ecology, herpetology, flintknapping, writing, birding, minerology, history, anthropology, engineering, art, physiology, and many more.

Opportunities to explore

The eastern Mojave Desert is a region of complex topography and geology, lying in the southern Great Basin geophysical province.  This results in a rich flora and fauna, distributed among several life zones and communities, from alkali scrub to verdant springs to Joshua tree forests. Diverse ecosystems are arrayed across a landscape of rugged mountains, alluvial fans and bajadas, sand dunes, volcanic fields, pediment domes, drainage systems and playas.  Although the Mojave is North America’s smallest desert, it is the most diverse, owing to its shared species alliances with the Colorado/Sonoran deserts to the south and east, and the Great Basin Desert to the north.

The Desert Studies Center lies within Mojave National Preserve, and is two hours south of Death Valley National Park, and two hours northeast of Joshua Tree National Park. The Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District manages much of the land surrounding these preserves and parks.