JOSHUA TREE, Calif. -- Projects to protect the Mojave and Colorado Deserts stand to get a lot more funding, as Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill creating the California Desert Conservation Program.The program is not yet funded, but the money should come with the 2022 budget cycle.Cody Hanford, deputy executive director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust, said he would like the state to purchase parcels of private land that connect large tracts of public land."The top priority would be acquisitions of private land inside habitat linkages," Hanford explained. "By preserving these linkages, that enables the desert to remain intact and species to flow as needed. "Read more here.