Reflections

Where were you on January 7, 2025, at 6:30 pm?

I remember that night like so many of you do – the night the fire started. I was writing a note, looking for a secure storage cabinet for our newly acquired microscopes to be used at Eaton Canyon Nature Center for plant ID sessions. Then I heard the news.

The fire roared and destroyed and has shaken us to the core, people and nature alike. Our beautiful canyon burned and – more significantly – our neighborhoods burned, and inhabitants of wildlands and residential areas alike had to flee and felt the same dread.

A few weeks later came the rains and floods; and the realization of the impact, the aftermath filled with toxic air and soil, the public quarreling and finger pointing, who is going to fix what if at all, who is going to pay when if at all, and how to forge a way forward.

Now it is one year later. How are we doing?

We did not lose our home and we weren’t even evacuated. So, I cannot and do not want to speak for the folks who lost their homes or for those who were otherwise severely impacted by the proximity of the fire, by the high winds, by the floods, by the following bureaucratic hurdles of government and insurance companies and others. I don’t pretend to have an idea what hardships you have endured and what you still are going through. I only know that about one third of our chapter members, including our board members, have been impacted in such profound ways. My sympathy, thoughts, and well wishes are with you all.

A special acknowledgement goes out to our board members who have been directly and severely impacted by the fire and nevertheless have continued to volunteer and contribute to our work preserving our native plants, including in particular Joy Walters, treasurer, who lost her home in Altadena. Ty Garrison, Orchid Black, and Susan Bartow, have been impacted by smoke and wind damage, and have continued their work with dedication and under most difficult circumstances. We thank you and all volunteers who have given their valuable time, expertise, and good will to support our mission to protect our native plants. I apologize if I have missed other volunteers with those challenges. Please know that we do appreciate your extraordinary efforts to commit to the cause during such challenging times.

Even though I don’t live in the evacuation area and only could see the flames from afar, I am still grappling with the events and the aftermath. I believe a lot of you are too. Even the so-called experts and officials are still struggling to find adequate resources and responses to the overwhelming challenges these events have created.

While struggling mightily, I’ve found solace in observing nature. The tender greens sprouting among the charred remains of shrubs and in between cement cracks, the leaf buds pocking out of blackened branches and on the base of mighty oaks and artsy sycamores, the birds perching on skeleton trees yet singing away, lizards mating on the sandy creek bed – all signs of renewal, resilience, and recovery.

The natural habitat was hit hard, first with the fire, then with two major storm events, and still – it is recovering just fine, all by itself!

And recover it will! I am certain of it. I have observed it after the Kinneloa fire in the same area in 1993 - that also destroyed the Nature Center – and after many other fires. It is this resilience of nature that gives me hope and confidence that we, too, can go on and enjoy the here and now, enjoy what is left, what we still have.

I decided to let go of the past, trying not to dwell on the losses of this past year, and instead focus on the family and friends who have gone through the same upheaval and much, much worse. I remembered to go out and learn from nature, appreciate her lessons, soak up the sun, appreciate the rain, and fill my lungs with air. I know I need to try again, and again, and again - until I realize: recovery is real, in nature and in me.

P.S. Nature recovers by itself, no help needed. Only in the urban wildland interface, where we humans have introduced invasive weeds, is our help welcome. Not only after fire, but anytime. And solace is there for the taking, anytime. Send an email to sgm.volunteers@cnps.org if you wish to volunteer.