Left alone by humans, wildlife returns to the Eaton Fire burn area
Wildlife is returning to the Eaton Fire burn area and scientists are closely tracking it four months after the area.
LOS ANGELES — Behind the remains of a town scorched by fire, the foothills are lush with new green and filled with birdsong.
Wildlife is returning to the Eaton Fire burn area and scientists are closely tracking it four months after the Los Angeles area wildfires tore through the Angeles National Forest and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in Altadena.
Trail cameras installed by a group of volunteers documented the first mountain lion back in the area March 26. It was seen again as recently as two nights ago.
“My first inclination was to share that to people who have lost so much during this fire and our community in Altadena, because it’s a sign of hope that nature’s returning, that nature’s resilient,” said Kristen Ochoa, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, medical school leading the effort.
Ochoa, a long-time resident of Southern California, first began documenting the plants and animals that live in the area known as the Chaney Trail Corridor in July 2024. She founded the Chaney Trail Corridor Project and began uploading observations on iNaturalist, a volunteer-driven network of naturalists and citizen scientists that maps and shares documentation of biodiversity across the globe.
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