Gana Wingard lives between two deserts.
In Palm Desert, she walks among blooming yucca plants and fragrant creosote bushes, their stubborn endurance a quiet defiance against the Southern California heat. Half a world away, in Mongolia’s Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, she navigates rocky outcrops and wide-open grassland, where argali sheep and cinereous vultures carve out their home in a landscape equally shaped by extremes.
For Wingard, these aren’t two distinct ecosystems — they are intertwined battles for the future of arid lands, united by the shared challenges of climate change, human pressure, and fragile ecosystems on the brink.
As founder of the Mongolian Conservation Initiative (MCI), Wingard has spent more than two decades working to protect natural spaces in Mongolia, the land where she was born and raised, fostering a delicate balance between conservation and the livelihoods of nomadic herders. Her contributions have led to groundbreaking research, community-driven solutions, and measurable success in restoring biodiversity. But the stakes have never been higher. Increasing threats from overgrazing, mining, and erratic weather patterns are pushing these endeavors to their limits and making this work more important than ever.
That’s why Wingard turned to the California desert, not just as a place to live for half the year, but as a source of collaboration and innovation. In 2023, she forged a partnership between MCI and The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, drawn by the Palm Desert organization’s reputation for spearheading more than 80 global conservation projects with a focus on arid ecosystems. Today, Wingard serves as The Living Desert’s conservation curator for Mongolia. She draws on her deep-rooted knowledge of the Gobi and works with researchers in the deserts of Southern California to develop innovative strategies that link these two worlds.
Gana Wingard (center) spends her winters in Palm Desert and summers in Mongolia, where she works with nomadic herders and rangers at the Ikh Nart Nature Reserve on important conservation initiatives alongside The Living Desert.
The alliance has not only enabled a sharing of scientific data but also an exchange of expertise across continents. “We are a global leader in habitat restoration and also in working with communities to ensure that conservation projects benefit them,” says Dr. James Danoff-Burg, vice president of conservation at The Living Desert. “Being able to share our expertise in these fields and to learn from Mongolians how to best work with local nomadic people was a great opportunity and why we were eager to host MCI and be involved in Ikh Nart.”
For example, Dr. Dagvajamts Badrakh, a veterinary medicine professor from Mongolian University of Life Sciences, has been learning advanced veterinary practices from The Living Desert’s team to teach his 750 students, while also training veterinarians from the U.S. in field work in Mongolia.
These unified efforts bridge two destinations that might seem worlds apart but share an undeniable kinship.
“Our deserts are fragile, but they are also resilient,” Wingard says, reflecting on the challenges ahead. “What we learn in one can help us protect the other.”
Immersing in the Gobi
The Gobi Desert stretches vast and unyielding, an ocean of stone and sand reaching toward the horizon. Its muted palette — dusty ochres, pale grays, and the faint blue haze where earth blends into sky — carries an air of eternity. Here, time unfolds not in moments but in centuries, etched in the gradual erosion of rock and the unceasing rhythm of wind and dust.
On the northern edge of this desert lies Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, a place that surprises those who think of the Gobi as flat or empty. The reserve’s name, which translates to “big, sunny rocks” in Mongolian, suits the surrounds. Towering rocky outcrops rise abruptly from the plains, sculpted by the elements into dramatic monuments, as though Earth itself were testing its endurance.
Initially established in 1996, Ikh Nart was once considered a “paper park” — a protected area in name only, lacking management and effective enforcement. Over time and through a cooperative strategy, it has transformed into a thriving nature reserve. It’s a shift that was initially largely driven by synergy among the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, and local communities, which implemented research and sustainable tourism projects; and it continues today with support from The Living Desert.
Spanning more than 163,000 acres, Ikh Nart harbors diverse wildlife, including the globally significant argali sheep, Siberian ibex, and a variety of carnivores and birds, such as cinereous vultures. Here, grassy steppe and desert converge, a critical intersection for a wealth of species.
The reserve is especially unique in that its boundaries are not marked by fences, allowing animals to roam freely across a much larger area. Since many rely on habitats extending beyond the reserve itself, conservationists are working to safeguard these adjacent areas to ensure connectivity and protect the broader ecological network.
“This area has some of the most active mining licenses in the province, which is destroying these habitats and making migration difficult,” Wingard says. “It’s like having wolves at the livestock gate.”
For Wingard, preserving the land is a profession, but it’s also deeply personal — a mission rooted in her childhood and the quiet wisdom of her grandfather. A Buddhist monk who fled Stalinist repression, he rebuilt his life as a herder in Western Mongolia, where he lived in harmony with nature. Every summer, Wingard joined her grandparents there, where her grandfather became her greatest teacher.
“He didn’t teach us about religion outright, but in a way he did,” she recalls, “He’d say, ‘Don’t take more than you need. Don’t harm the environment. Coexist with nature.’ ” His words, grounded in the cadence of a herder’s life, became a foundation for her understanding of conservation. “He was teaching us about conservation before we had a name for it.”
At Work in Mongolia
The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens began its work in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve in 2023 with a focus on wildlife conservation biology, community outreach and education, protected areas management, and wildlife veterinary care, recognizing the importance of maintaining the health of both wild and domestic animal populations. This initiative addressed the challenges of disease transmission and supported conservation operations by ensuring that key species would thrive in their natural habitats.
Last year, The Living Desert team conducted wildlife research with reserve rangers, using drive nets to safely catch, tag, and check vitals of argali sheep and other animals.
Among the participants were Wingard, Dr. James Danoff-Burg, and Allen Monroe.
In a collaborative effort, nine staff members from The Living Desert joined the reserve’s skilled team to conduct monitoring and research in 2024. Using drive nets, they safely captured argali sheep, Siberian ibex, and black-tailed gazelle to gather health data and fit them with satellite collars to track their movements. The team handled each animal for less than 10 minutes to minimize stress while collecting blood samples and reading vitals. They also examined 100 domestic sheep and goats to identify potential cross-infections with wildlife.
This research aims to better understand and reduce disease transmission. The goal is to enhance coexistence and improve the health of all species in the region, fostering sustainable conservation practices.
Beyond veterinary care, The Living Desert’s activities at Ikh Nart extend to ecological restoration, addressing the broader challenges of environmental degradation caused by unsustainable grazing practices and climatic shifts. These factors threaten both wildlife and the natural resources essential to Mongolia’s nomadic herding communities.
During one visit, Dr. Luis Ramirez, curator of conservation at The Living Desert, evaluated earlier restoration efforts and planned new initiatives. Collaborating with New Mexico Highlands University, the team mapped and assessed springs that had diminished or ceased flowing, forming the basis for watershed-level restoration projects aimed at increasing water retention and reviving natural springs. They also implemented smaller-scale restorations in the camp’s canyon to enhance resilience and forage availability.
Results indicated that prior actions had significantly improved plant productivity, benefiting native wildlife and the surrounding ecosystem. This work highlights the integration of water resource management and habitat restoration in sustaining the biodiversity of the region.
Listening to the Land
In the arid heart of Mongolia, where the granite outcrops of Ikh Nart rise like ancient sentinels from the earth, a quiet revolution in conservation is underway. Beneath the endless blue skies, as the wind whistles across the grassy steppe, scientists and conservationists are learning to listen to the land in profound ways.
On a recent trip to the reserve, the tools are simple: measuring tapes, notebooks, and GPS devices. Yet the mission is anything but straightforward — each step taken across this rugged terrain contributes to a larger story about the viability of a vulnerable world. Through seemingly humble practices like vegetation plot sampling, this team is uncovering the intricate dynamics of the steppe, where every plant, shrub, and blade of grass holds clues to the health of the region.
Livestock grazing is depleting natural vegetation in the Gobi Desert, leaving fragile ecosystems vulnerable to habitat loss and biodiversity decline. The team at Ikh Nart Nature Reserve works with local nomadic families to help find the balance.
Nomadic herders and Ikh Nart rangers are key stewards of Mongolia’s desert, blending generations of local knowledge with modern conservation practices to protect their home. In turn, their insights teach The Living Desert about caring for vulnerable lands.
Vegetation sampling, often viewed as a technical task, becomes almost poetic here. It begins with identifying where life clings to the soil — whether it’s a stubborn Saxaul tree or a patch of weathered sagebrush. Each tuft of grass or shrub is carefully measured, cataloged, and mapped. This meticulous process reveals a narrative of balance and disruption: where livestock grazing jeopardizes important habitat, where invasive species threaten native flora, and how atmospheric changes influence growth patterns and drought cycles.
But this work isn’t exclusive to the realm of scientists. It’s a bridge between conservationists, local herders, and the terrain itself. The nomadic communities of Ikh Nart, whose livelihoods depend on these grasses and shrubs, are key partners.
Approximately 150 nomadic families live within the reserve, and conservationists have integrated their presence into the strategy. Their knowledge, honed over generations engaging with this harsh landscape, complements the data. Together, they map the boundaries between sustainable grazing and overuse, crafting solutions that serve both people and the wild.
By involving these families as stewards of the region, the reserve has fostered a sense of mutual responsibility, turning residents into active participants in protecting the area’s unique web of life.
“We care for the land because it’s where we are from,” says Rentsen Oyunbat, a small mammal researcher at Ikh Nart and Mongolian manager of MCI, speaking through an interpreter. Hailing from Western Mongolia, he was raised in a herding family, deeply connected to the currents of nature. This upbringing sparked his passion for safeguarding the vistas that shaped his life.
It’s a similar story for Ikh Nart ranger Nyamsharav Tsetsegmaa, who was raised in the same area he now oversees.
“There were issues before the land was protected,” he says, through an interpreter. “Like poaching and illegal mining sites. It was becoming worse, but I wanted to be part of the initiative to make it better.”
As temperatures rise and seasons grow unpredictable, stakes are climbing. Vegetation sampling might seem like small business — just lines in a notebook or dots on a map — but it is a cornerstone of resilience. By tracking the reserve’s health, plant by plant, step by step, the conservationists of Ikh Nart and The Living Desert are shaping a future where both the land and the species that call it home can withstand the storms ahead.
Defying the Odds
In the Gobi, the challenges are immense, though they arrive quietly. Increasingly fierce dust storms, driven by desertification and land degradation by overgrazing and mining, scour the region. Wildlife that once thrived in this remote expanse — snow leopards, wild camels, and the elusive saiga antelope — are struggling to survive, hemmed in by mining operations and expanding settlements. Even the hardy grasses, adapted to millennia of harsh conditions, are vanishing under the twin pressures of overgrazing and rising temperatures. Nearly 70 percent of these grasslands are now degraded, Wingard explains.
“This threatens the area’s biodiversity and its role in cultural heritage, livelihoods, and the overall well-being of the nomadic herding communities,” she emphasizes.
On the other side of the world, in Southern California’s deserts, threats wear a different face but carry the same urgency. Human expansion presses relentlessly into wild spaces. Highways, dirt roads, housing developments, and industrial projects fragment habitats, disrupt migration patterns, and isolate animal populations, diminishing biodiversity. Invasive species like tamarisk trees siphon precious water from native plants, unraveling the intricate balance of desert ecosystems. Light pollution and noise from urban sprawl further alter the behavior and adaptability of desert wildlife.
Climate change compounds these pressures in both deserts. In the Gobi, once-reliable seasonal patterns have grown erratic and more extreme — as cold as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and as hot as 110 in the summer — making it increasingly difficult for nomadic herders to sustain their way of life. In Southern California, prolonged droughts and supercharged wildfires obliterate vast stretches in mere hours.
These are twin landscapes under siege, Wingard says. That’s why she refers to this project as “a tale of two deserts.”
“Even though we’re a world apart, it’s like they’re mirror images — one a cold desert, the other hot, but both with similar wildlife, similar geology, and similar challenges,” she says.
Yet neither desert is a victim. Both are testaments to resilience, home to species that have adapted to persevere in the most extreme conditions. From California’s drought-hardened cactuses to the Gobi’s double-humped Bactrian camels, these environments teem with life uniquely tailored to defy the odds. But their existence, Wingard notes, depends on people — on a collective willingness to view these deserts not as barren wastelands, but as vital, biodiverse systems worth fighting for.
“There’s a lot of work to do,” she affirms, “but there’s also a lot of hope.”
To protect these deserts is not only to preserve their beauty but to honor the lessons they hold: a reminder of life’s remarkable tenacity and the urgent need for stewardship in a world that often forgets its limits. “Although people are the problem,” Danoff-Burg adds, “we can also be the solution. We know the best ways to coexist with wildlife and properly steward land — it is only a matter of deciding to do it.”
Looking to the Future
The efforts at Ikh Nart extend beyond protecting native species. They aim to foster a deep connection between people and the planet. By involving local herders in sustainable practices and creating economic opportunities through ecotourism, the reserve has become a model for blending community engagement with ecological preservation.
In a warming world with shifting natural rhythms, places like Ikh Nart serve as beacons of hope, demonstrating that conservation is not simply about saving wildlife. It’s about uniting culture, science, and community to form a more sustainable future. The success of this mission depends on the commitment of those who live there and the support of those who lend their hands and voices from afar.
Monroe wears a traditional herding ensemble.
Danoff-Burg radios back to the team.
Participants stay at Ikh Nart Nature Reserve Research Camp.
Wingard believes that everyday people can play a pivotal role in protecting the vulnerable ecosystems of Mongolia. Through programs like Earthwatch, volunteers can step into the role of citizen scientists at Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, becoming part of an urgent mission to safeguard the wildlife and biosphere of this breathtaking expanse.
Each sighting, each data point collected, and each family involved becomes a pivotal piece of the puzzle, helping scientists understand how life moves, thrives, and struggles in an ever-changing landscape.
But the experience goes beyond research — it’s a rare chance to immerse in the heartbeat of Mongolia’s nomadic heritage. Volunteers work alongside herders who have lived in harmony with this rugged terrain for generations, learning how ancient practices and modern conservation can join forces. By helping monitor how livestock grazing impacts wildlife habitats or how shifting climates challenge traditional ways of life, participants become conduits between two worlds: the local communities whose survival is tied to the land and the global effort to protect it.
“They stay with us for a purpose,” Wingard says. “Then they go home and tell people about us, which is so important. A piece of Mongolia goes home with them.”
