Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) native to the Mojave Desert. Originally declared a national monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was redesignated a national park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act. The park, which spans San Bernardino and Riverside counties, includes parts of two deserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the Upper Mojave Desert and the Lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains cross the southwestern edge of the park.