Jacob Margolis
has covered the Palisades and Eaton fires since Day One.
Published January 9, 2026 5:00 AM
Nature is bouncing back
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LAist
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Topline:
Nature moves fast, especially when there are large patches of open soil, sunlight and water to feed recovery. And recovery is what we're starting to see — both in good and bad ways — a year after fires tore through the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains.
Why it matters: The destruction of last year’s January fires was devastating. Not just in how they leveled more than 16,000 structures and took at least 31 lives, but also how they stripped bare landscapes that many Southern Californians had become familiar with and had found solace visiting for decades.
What's next: Time will tell whether invasive or native plants will have the upper hand. But some early signs are encouraging.
Read on ... to see and learn about what's sprouting in Southern California's mountains.
The destruction of last year’s January fires was devastating. Not just in how they leveled more than 16,000 structures and took at least 31 lives, but also how they stripped bare landscapes that many Southern Californians had become familiar with and had found solace visiting for decades. Hillsides that we’d long seen covered in dense green chaparral and coastal sage scrub were turned to ash, with the charred carcasses of native plants left behind.
However, nature moves fast, especially when there are large patches of open soil, sunlight and water to feed recovery. And recovery is what we're starting to see — both in good and bad ways.
“Recovery begins in the first growing season,” said Jon Keeley, research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
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Where is LA a year after the fires? Checking in with survivors, rebuilding and nature
On recent trips to the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains, where the Palisades and Eaton fires burned a year ago, the signs are sprouting.
Manzanitas and oaks are regrowing from the bases of large plants that burned. Smaller, fast-growing showy pentstemon, hairy yerba santa and the pustule-causing poodle-dog bush are thriving now that competition has been removed.
But so are invasive plants like wild oats, bromes and mustard, which account for some of the green up.
What's growing?
A year after the fires, here are the plants you can see in the Eaton and Palisades burn scars.
Invasive Spanish brome growing in the Eaton Fire burn scar in December.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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A year after the Eaton Fire, new growth is sprouting from the base of badly burned plants.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Poodle-dog bush, often found on post-fire landscapes, grows in the San Gabriel Mountains in December. Don't touch!
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Pines scorched by the Eaton Fire near the Mount Wilson radio towers in December.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Oak resprouts from the base of a larger plant that burned in the Eaton Fire.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Penstemon growing in the Eaton Fire burn scar in December.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Dried out brome in the Eaton Fire burn scar in December.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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California sagebrush sprouts in the Palisades Fire burn scar in December.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Invasive plants are popping up in rocky, often disturbed areas along trails burned by the Palisades Fire.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Lupine seen growing in the Santa Monica Mountains in December.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Goldenbush pops up among filaree in the Santa Monica Mountains in December 2025.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Whether invasive species or natives take root long term depends on a variety of factors, including the age of the plants when they burned and how soon the area burns again, Keeley said.
Some of the Palisades Fire area hadn’t burned in about 60 years, according to state records, which may mean healthy native-plant recovery over the long term.
Walking the area recently, I saw native California sage brush, goldenbush and long leaf bush lupine, with some invasive grasses mixed in.
The Santa Monica Mountains, photographed from Mullholland Drive, on Jan. 21, 2025, just weeks after the Palisades Fire.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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In December 2025, the Santa Monica Mountains are green again, though non-native grasses fill quite a bit of the open space.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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Higher up in the San Gabriels, where the Eaton Fire burn scar has some overlap with the Bobcat (2020) and Station (2009) fires, native plants that have weathered repeated blazes may struggle to recover.
“If the fire occurs in areas that had burned within the last 15 to 25 years, then there's a good chance you're going to lose species," Keeley said. "And if you lose those species, they're replaced by non-native grasses.”
When fire occurs too frequently, native plant seedbanks can be destroyed, making recovery unlikely.
“ We've looked now at 65, 75, something like that, sites around the state over five years, and the pattern is pretty common,” Keeley said.
The nonnative grasses that replace native shrubs can often dry out and catch fire more easily than heartier natives. Shortening the interval between when wildfires can spread across a landscape, further challenging recovery. It’s a pattern that’s been documented across California — from the deserts to the mountains to the coastal hillsides.
Hope for native plants — and hard work
Even where invasive species have taken over, the hard work of conservation can help bring back natives. But fire is an ever-present threat, as Tree People learned.
For the past four years, the environmental conservation organization has been working to help reestablish native species near Castaic Lake. The work was arduous, with volunteers removing invasive plants across a 25-acre site and planting native oaks. And they were seeing good progress — until Jan. 22, 2025, when the Hughes Fire charred more than 10,000 acres, including their work area.
Oak sprouts from the base of a slim trunk in March 2025.
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Alyssa Walker
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Tree People
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A young oak puts out new growth in September 2025.
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Alyssa Walker
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Tree People
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“We brought the team out, and everyone was just kind of speechless,” said Alyssa Walker, Tree People’s associate director of conservation.
The site where they’d planted thousands of trees and worked for years was devoid of green.
But they didn’t give up. They watered seedlings they thought had the best chance of survival.
It's working.
They’re seeing the best recovery in areas where they did the most invasive plant clearance, Walker said. The baby oaks have also done remarkably well, as fire-adapted oak trees often do. And sawtooth golden bush, sunflowers, yerba santa and sugarbush, among others, are all making a comeback.
In the areas that had a lower density of invasive prior to the fire, native chamise can be seen regrowing about a year after the Hughes Fire.
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Alyssa Walker
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Tree People
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In an area dominated by invasive annual plants, invasive plants have come back.
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Alyssa Walker
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Tree People
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“We've seen things grow back, if not to their existing size, like beyond,” Walker said.
Native plants in areas that had a higher density of invasive plants before the fire are growing slower because of all of the extra competition.
What about mountain lions?
This uncollared mountain lion's habitat appears to be east of the 405 Freeway. Video captured on the morning of Sept. 7, 2019, shows it chasing P-61 in the area east of the freeway.
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National Park Service
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Recent data gathered by the National Park Service in the Santa Monica Mountains area shows that since the Palisades Fire, at least one mountain lion, P-125, appears to be avoiding the burned area.
How other mountain lions are behaving is not yet clear, but the Woolsey Fire — which burned nearly 100,000 acres, including in the Santa Monica Mountains — offers insights into lion behavior after large fires.
After that 2018 fire, mountain lions favored areas that hadn’t burned and still had dense vegetative cover they could use to stay hidden and stalk deer, according to tracking data gathered by the Park Service over 15 months after the Woolsey Fire.
The fire squeezed the territorial cats into even smaller areas that are already fragmented by urban development.
“When you look at their post-fire behavior, because so much of the Santa Monicas were burned … they engaged in some riskier behaviors than they may have beforehand,” said Seth Riley, chief wildlife ecologist for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
That included crossing roads, one of the deadlier activities for mountain lions in Southern California. As was the case with P-61, who lived in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains.
P-61 crossed the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass, which is the first and only time that Riley and his colleagues had seen one of their collared lions cross that freeway. When the male lion reached Bel Air, he encountered another male lion, which chased him up a tree. Twenty minutes later, P-61 was killed by a car — crossing the 405 Freeway again.
Of the 11 lions that Riley and his colleagues were tracking around the Woolsey Fire, three died. P-61 was one.
P-74, they assume, got caught in the fire. Another, P-64, who lived in the Simi Hills and fled when the fire came through, was found dead two weeks later with badly burned paws. He chose to head back into the burned area instead of fleeing into neighborhoods full of people, Riley said.
When will normal return?
The Santa Monica Mountains, bisected by Mulholland Drive, about a year after the Palisades Fire. The area on the left was burned by the fire, while the area on the right, full of native vegetation, has not burned since 1944, according to Cal Fire records.
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Jacob Margolis
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LAist
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I met Lawrence Szabo from Venice on a trail in the Santa Monica Mountains in mid-December. He was looking out across a canyon that had started to green up after heavy rains. We were just down the way from an oak tree that serves as a landmark for hikers and cyclists.
“ I've always viewed that oak tree as kind of my chapel,” he said. “I think that's what was the heaviest part of the fires. Not knowing whether it was still there. And then, when I turned the corner the first time and I saw it there, it pulled a tear, and I felt like we could keep going.”
Over the next 10 years, assuming invasive plants don’t take over, native plants will repopulate and spread. And in several decades our hillsides could once again be filled with the dense and beautiful chaparral and coastal sage scrub many of us grew up with.
Aaron Schrank
has been tracking L.A. County's homelessness spending plan over the past year.
Published February 3, 2026 6:44 PM
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Topline:
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an $843 million homelessness spending plan that includes nearly $200 million in reductions to programs and services in the next budget year.
Why it matters: Among the affected programs is Pathway Home, which helps move people from encampments into temporary housing. The county reduced funding for that program by $92 million, which will shrink it from 20 project sites to seven, officials said.
Supervisors also approved $105 million in reductions to other programs, including large cuts to street outreach teams, homelessness prevention programs and other supportive services.
Why now: Officials said they had to reduce spending to cover the rising costs of operating shelter beds and the loss of tens of millions in temporary state and federal funding, including some COVID-19 relief dollars.
Read on ... for details about the new budget and how it will affect homelessness services in the county.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an $843 million homelessness spending plan that includes nearly $200 million in reductions to programs and services in the next budget year.
Among those programs is Pathway Home, which helps move people from encampments into temporary housing. The county reduced funding for that program by $92 million, which will shrink it from 20 project sites to seven, officials said.
Supervisors also approved $105 million in reductions to other programs, including large cuts to street outreach teams, homelessness prevention programs and other supportive services.
County officials said they had to reduce spending in order to cover the rising costs of operating shelter beds and the loss of tens of millions in temporary state and federal funding, including some COVID-19 relief dollars.
“With federal neglect and state cuts, we have to do more with less,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath told LAist. “And we will.”
The county’s new Department of Homeless Services and Housing has been warning about the looming shortfall since July. County officials solicited input on how to fill an initial $303 million gap.
Last month, local homeless service providers urged county officials to restore all of the more than $200 million in proposed reductions to programs and services. Some supervisors raised concerns about specific cuts.
Since then, new revenue projections show the county stands to bring in $21 million more through Measure A than originally anticipated.
Measure A is a sales tax ordinance, approved by L.A. County voters in 2024, that funds homeless services and affordable housing initiatives. It is expected to generate about $1 billion annually, but exact revenues fluctuate with consumer spending.
“It’s not a windfall and it doesn’t solve every challenge, but it does give us the ability to restore important programs that were on the chopping block,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said.
The board voted to use much of that $21 million to restore funding for two dozen full-time outreach workers and about 100 shelter beds that were previously on the chopping block.
The plan approved Tuesday also calls for $5 million in Measure A revenue to partially restore funding for interim housing in Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale. It restored more than $1 million to operate family solution centers — hubs to connect unhoused families with services — and about $500,000 for a program that helps military veterans access government benefits.
Supervisor Holly Mitchell said she wishes Pathway Home funding could be maintained. She said it’s been crucial for helping people living in RV encampments in her district, which spans from Koreatown to much of the South Bay.
"These restorations don't expand encampment resolution operations,” Mitchell said Tuesday. “The services with the greatest impact in the Second District remain reduced, and the current plan does not replace what was cut."
County homelessness officials told supervisors the 100 shelter beds they saved will be prioritized for people living in encampments and will help make up for cuts to Pathway Home.
"The reduction to Pathway Home is not a reduced commitment to encampment resolution,” L.A. County Department of Homeless Services and Housing director Sarah Mahin said Tuesday. “It’s a recognition that it was built on one-time funding and we need to expand strategies to include more cost-effective resolution solutions."
New oversight push
The supervisors also voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a new motion focused on accountability in homeless service contracting. The motion by Horvath and Kathryn Barger directs the homelessness department to work with the county auditor-controller to create strict oversight procedures for contracts, including random site visits, performance monitoring and provisions for termination.
They said the goal is to prevent the mismanagement that has plagued the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and the fraud that has resulted in recent arrests. Last month, federal authorities arrested Alex Soofer, director of a nonprofit called Abundant Blessings, on suspicion of embezzling tens of millions in dollars meant to serve unhoused Angelenos. Soofer pleaded not guilty to the charges this week.
"Public dollars intended to address homelessness have gone unaccounted for under LAHSA," Horvath said. “That is unacceptable and it ends now with the county.”
Last year, the board voted to divert more than $300 million in county homelessness dollars away from LAHSA and administer the funds itself with a new homelessness department.
“As the department launches, every contract, every dollar, and every outcome must withstand scrutiny,” Horvath told LAist in a statement. “We don’t have resources to waste or time to lose in addressing the homelessness crisis.”
Barger described instances of fraud within the homeless services sector as “moral failures” that cannot be tolerated.
“They represent theft from the most vulnerable people in our community,” she said.
She also argued that ethical service providers “should not have their reputations destroyed by the criminal actions of a few bad actors.”
Barger told fellow supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting it’s their responsibility to monitor how county homelessness dollars are being spent — and to defund programs that aren’t generating results.
“Setting the budget is the easy part,” Barger said. “We have to see results. And if we don’t, we have to have a debate at this board: is that the best use of these resources?”
The department must report back to the board in 60 days with their full plan for monitoring contractors and preventing fraud and misuse of public funds.
Auditor-Controller Oscar Valdez told supervisors his office would submit a plan to county homelessness officials Tuesday.
Why it matters: Metro has asked for $3.2 billion in federal funding to pay for projects to enhance transportation during the Games. The money will pay for leasing land, designing temporary bus facilities and station improvements, as well as designing enhanced pedestrian pathways for venue areas, according to a statement from Metro.
What about the World Cup?The bill, signed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, also included money for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in June. Around $9.1 million is earmarked for the international tournament’s transportation funding.
Reaction: The L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority applauded the spending package.
“The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are a time for America to shine on the world stage — and we know that transportation will be a key part of the visitor experience,” said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
A crew of four moon-bound astronauts will remain on the ground for at least a month after NASA delayed the launch of the Artemis II mission. During critical pre-launch testing Monday, mission managers uncovered a number of issues that prevented the completion of the test.
What caused the delay: Issues leading to that delay began about an hour into Monday's test, known as the wet dress rehearsal. As the team began fueling the rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sensors picked up a hydrogen leak. Super-chilled hydrogen is used as the fuel for the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The wet dress rehearsal uncovered other issues — including a problem with the Orion capsule, which will carry the crew to the moon. There were also issues with cameras due to cold weather and audio dropouts across communication channels.
What's next: Work now begins to fix the issues. NASA will require another wet dress rehearsal before giving the "GO" to put astronauts on board. "All in all, a very successful day for us on many fronts," said Blackwell-Thompson. "Then, on many others, we got some work we've got to go do." The earliest launch window for another attempt is March 6. NASA has additional launch opportunities on March 7, 8, 9 and 11.
A crew of four moon-bound astronauts will remain on the ground for at least a month after NASA delayed the launch of the Artemis II mission. During critical pre-launch testing Monday, mission managers uncovered a number of issues that prevented the completion of the test.
NASA is now planning a March launch date for the four astronauts — three from the U.S. and one from Canada — on a ten-day mission to circle the moon and return to Earth, traveling farther than any humans have ventured into deep space.
Issues leading to that delay began about an hour into Monday's test, known as the wet dress rehearsal. As the team began fueling the rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sensors picked up a hydrogen leak. Super-chilled hydrogen is used as the fuel for the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Hydrogen is an efficient propellant for rockets — but its molecules are so tiny and light they can escape even the tightest of seals. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said they had troubleshooted the initial leak, but when they began to pressurize the tank, another leak surfaced.
"And so as we began that pressurization, we did see that the leak within the cavity came up pretty quick," said Blackwell-Thompson.
(L/R) NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, NASA Associate Administrator Lori Glaze, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, and manager of NASA's Space Launch System Program, John Honeycutt, hold a news conference on the Artemis II mission at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday.
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Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo
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AFP via Getty Images
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Hydrogen leaks plagued testing of NASA's Artemis I mission in 2022. Blackwell-Thompson said lessons learned from that uncrewed flight were utilized for Artemis II, but there's more investigation is needed.
The wet dress rehearsal uncovered other issues — including a problem with the Orion capsule, which will carry the crew to the moon. While no one was on board Monday, teams practiced preparing the spacecraft for its passengers. A valve that pressurizes the vehicle required additional attention and took more time to close the hatch than anticipated.
Teams also uncovered issues with cameras due to cold weather and audio dropouts across communication channels. "As always, safety remains our top priority, for our astronauts, our workforce, our systems and the public," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a post on X, and that NASA will only launch when the agency is ready.
Work now begins to fix the issues. NASA will require another wet dress rehearsal before giving the "GO" to put astronauts on board. "All in all, a very successful day for us on many fronts," said Blackwell-Thompson. "Then, on many others, we got some work we've got to go do."
The earliest launch window for another attempt is March 6. NASA has additional launch opportunities on March 7, 8, 9 and 11.
The crew of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen were released from quarantine and will remain in Houston, Texas. They'll re-enter quarantine about 14 days ahead of the next launch attempt and make the trip to the Kennedy Space Center six days before liftoff.
Artemis II is testing key systems of the Orion spacecraft, like its maneuverability and life support systems, ahead of the planned Artemis III mission that will take humans to the lunar surface. The Artemis II will mark the first time humans have returned to the moon since the final Apollo lunar mission in 1972.
Copyright 2026 NPR
Jill Replogle
covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.
Published February 3, 2026 3:16 PM
Plaintiffs argue that residents of Oak View, the city's predominantly Latino neighborhood, are unfairly disadvantaged when it comes to electing city officials to represent their interests.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Topline:
A trial got underway Tuesday in a case alleging that Huntington Beach illegally dilutes the power of Latino voters with its at-large election system.
The backdrop: Cities across Orange County and elsewhere in California have faced similar challenges over the past decade. Most have settled by adopting by-district elections, where voters only vote on a city council representative from their area, rather than requiring candidates to run citywide. But Huntington Beach is fighting the effort in court.
The argument against at-large city elections: The plaintiffs allege that under the current, at-large election system, the power of the city's biggest Latino neighborhood is diluted, leading to poor representation.
The city’s defense: Lawyers representing Huntington Beach pointed to past elections of Latino candidates, saying they prove that the city’s current at-large election system doesn’t impede Latino residents’ ability to participate in the local political process.
Go deeper ... for more about the legal case.
A trial got underway Tuesday in a case alleging that Huntington Beach illegally dilutes the power of Latino voters with its at-large election system.
Cities across Orange County and elsewhere in California have faced similar challenges over the past decade. Most have settled out of court by adopting by-district elections, where voters only vote on a city council representative from their area, rather than requiring candidates to run citywide. A notable exception is Santa Monica — the city has been fighting a challenge to its at-large election system in court for nearly 10 years.
The case was brought by the nonprofit group Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Victor Valladares, a Huntington Beach resident and Democratic Party activist. It’s being heard by Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig L. Griffin.
The argument against at-large city elections
The plaintiffs allege Latino voters can’t elect a candidate of their choice under the current system, in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. This alleged dilution of Latino voting power, they say, leads to poor representation and negative consequences for the city’s majority-Latino Oak View neighborhood.
“Their needs get ignored,” Kevin Shenkman, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said during his opening statement Tuesday. “It is a natural result of the at-large election system.”
Latinos make up about 20% of the population in Huntington Beach. Under a draft map of electoral districts drawn up by demographer David Ely, a witness for the plaintiffs, the district that includes the Oak View neighborhood would be 40% Latino. Plaintiffs argued this would give residents more power to elect a city councilmember who represents their interests.
The city’s defense of at-large elections
In their opening argument, lawyers representing Huntington Beach argued that Latinos in Huntington Beach are spread across the city and politically diverse.
The city’s lawyers also argued that recent elections of Latino city council members, including MMA star Tito Ortiz in 2020 and Gracey Van Der Mark in 2022, prove the city’s current at-large election system doesn’t impede Latino residents’ ability to participate in the local political process.
“The system works, it’s not broken, and the evidence will show that at trial,” said Anthony Taylor, one of the attorneys representing Huntington Beach.
The trial is expected to last into next week.
How to keep tabs on Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach holds City Council meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 2000 Main St.
You can also watch City Council meetings remotely on HBTV via Channel 3 or online, or via the city’s website. (You can also find videos of previous council meetings there.)
The public comment period happens toward the beginning of meetings.
The city generally posts agendas for City Council meetings on the previous Friday. You can find the agenda on the city’s calendar or sign up there to have agendas sent to your inbox.
