Crews balance firefighting and protecting a fragile ecosystem in containing California-Nevada blaze

By TY O’NEIL, STEFANIE DAZIO and RIO YAMAT

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battling a massive blaze in California’s Mojave National Preserve on Tuesday are facing the difficult task of stopping the fire without using heavy equipment that could damage the region’s famous Joshua trees and other sensitive plants. The York Fire was about a quarter contained as of Tuesday afternoon. It’s California’s largest wildfire so far this year at roughly 125 square miles. The blaze erupted near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the vast wildland preserve and crossed the state line into Nevada on Sunday. The preserve is a varied desert landscape home to many plants and the threatened desert tortoise.