Jill Replogle
covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.
Published October 30, 2023 5:00 AM
A ewe from the Wheeler Ridge herd southwest of Bishop.
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Bernd Zeugswetter
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LAist
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Topline:
Half of the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep appear to have died during this year's record-breaking winter, according to researchers interviewed by LAist. There are now an estimated 360 sheep left. The changing climate and decades of conflict with mountain lions has made their future uncertain.
How did the bighorn sheep die? Some were trapped in avalanches, some died of starvation, and some were killed by mountain lions when the sheep were forced to move to lower elevations to look for food. Some herds, including two of the three living in Yosemite National Park, have been mostly or perhaps entirely wiped out.
What's being done? Data from the tough winter are still being collected and will help inform future recovery efforts. Wildlife experts say this is the biggest die-off since the species was listed as endangered nearly 25 years ago.
"When you think you have it figured out, you'll get a curveball thrown at you like a winter as extreme as the one we just had," said Tom Stephenson, who heads the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program.
Half of the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep tracked by scientists died during last season’s record-breaking winter, according to researchers interviewed by LAist.
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LISTEN: California's Big Snow Year Decimated Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep
Some sheep got trapped in avalanches, some died of starvation, and some were killed by mountain lions when the sheep were forced to move to lower elevations to look for food.
The population is now estimated at 360 sheep, a 40% decline from a year ago, according to Tom Stephenson, who heads the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program. That estimate includes new lambs that were born in the spring.
Some herds, including two of the three living in Yosemite National Park, have been mostly or perhaps entirely wiped out.
During their summer field surveys, researchers found just one live ewe, the term for adult female bighorns, from Yosemite's Mount Gibbs herd. Last year there were 20.
Why bighorn sheep matter
Bighorn sheep have been an integral part of the Sierra Nevada food chain for hundreds of thousands of years. Predators, including mountain lions, coyotes and wolves, eat bighorn sheep.
High-elevation scavengers, like the endangered Sierra Nevada red fox and, in the past, wolverines also scavenge the remains of bighorn sheep that have died. Losing these large animals can disrupt the balance of the alpine ecosystem.
Naturalists and ecologists also see bighorn sheep as emblematic of the Sierra Nevada wilderness. "In Yosemite, we have this ideal of wilderness as being a place that's wild and free," Stock said. "And to me, having studied the bighorn sheep for almost two decades, they really epitomize that."
They found no live ewes from Yosemite's Cathedral Range herd, which they say leaves little chance the herd can recover naturally.
"It's frustrating," Stephenson said. "I've spent a lot of my career trying to get this animal to recovery. And when you think you have it figured out, you'll get a curveball thrown at you like a winter as extreme as the one we just had."
The extent of the devastation is evident in the field notes recorded since the beginning of 2023 and posted on the recovery program's website:
Taboose Creek herd, Feb. 1: "All collared ewes are believed to be dead from heavy snows this winter."
Mount Williamson herd, Feb. 23:"4 bighorn have been killed by lion predation since January, and as many as 6 others may have died due to heavy snows this winter."
Sawmill Canyon herd, April 16: "7 bighorn are known to have been killed by lions in Sawmill Canyon since January, including a ewe that was captured 4 days prior to lion predation."
Laurel Creek herd, May 27: "All collared animals are believed to have died this past winter and spring during heavy snows."
Big Arroyo herd, May 27: "All collared animals are believed to have died this winter, during heavy snows."
State and federal wildlife officials have managed Sierra bighorn herds since the 1970s in an effort to re-establish a healthy population. The sheep were listed as an endangered species in 1999.
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Courtesy: Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program
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CA Department of Fish & Wildlife
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Other Sierra Nevada herds fared better, including Yosemite's Mount Warren herd. In the Mount Baxter herd, which is the largest, near the eastern Sierra town of Independence, researchers observed 75 sheep over the summer.
Researchers try to keep tracking collars on about one-third of all female ewes in order to gauge a herd's health and ability to reproduce. They generally collar fewer rams. Half of the collared animals died over the winter.
The bighorn recovery team also does winter and summer surveys of the areas occupied by the 14 bighorn herds they monitor, but some sheep territory is difficult to access. Researchers say it’s possible some sheep in the hardest-hit herds survived and simply couldn't be found.
"I don't want to let go of this idea that there still might be sheep out there," said Sarah Stock, a Yosemite National Park wildlife ecologist, referring to the decimated Cathedral Range herd. "But I am also realistic at the same time."
Brief history of the Sierra Nevada bighorn
The Sierra Nevada bighorn broke off from their desert bighorn cousins to form a distinct subspecies some 600,000 years ago, according to John Wehausen, who has been studying the Sierra sheep for close to 50 years. Wehausen now heads the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation.
Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep often feed in meadows at the bottom of rocky slopes and snowfields. Then, they'll work their way back up the slopes to spend the night at high elevations among the boulders.
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Bernd Zeugswetter
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Up until European settlers came in the 1700s and 1800s, thousands of bighorn sheep are thought to have occupied the Sierra Nevada, from the Yosemite region south to Mount Whitney and the high slopes of Sequoia National Park.
But European settlement was devastating for the sheep, mostly because imported domestic sheep passed on bacteria to the native bighorns that caused fatal respiratory diseases. The bighorns had no immunity.
That led to many decades of decline. By the mid-1990s, there were only about 100 Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep left. Conservationists ramped up efforts to save the species, and they were listed as endangered by the state and federal government in 1999.
Since then, state and federal wildlife officials have tried to carefully manage the herds. They’ve transported ewes and rams from healthy herds to augment smaller ones, and started new herds in other parts of the sheep's historic range.
Bighorn sheep once occupied a large swath of the Sierra Nevada, from the Yosemite region south to Mount Whitney and the high slopes of Sequoia National Park.
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Courtesy: Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program
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CA Department of Fish & Wildlife
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In March 2015, for example, in a celebrated event, 10 ewes and three rams were airlifted to Yosemite's Cathedral Range to start a herd there. (Stock, the Yosemite wildlife ecologist, gave a passionate TEDx Talk about the release in 2016.)
At that time, in 2016, the Sierra Nevada bighorn population numbered over 600 animals — healthy enough for Stephenson to think the animal might be downlisted from endangered to threatened within the next five years.
Now, that seems like a distant goal.
In a recent talk for the Yosemite Forum lecture series, Wehausen noted that after 37 years of trying to re-establish a healthy bighorn sheep population in the Yosemite area, "we are exactly where we started," he said. "It seems like it's a juncture and we should ask some hard questions about what we're doing here."
Why did the bighorn have such a tough winter?
The naturalist John Muir wrote in 1894 that bighorn sheep "ranks highest among the animal mountaineers of the Sierra."
Wheeler Ridge, where one of the bighorn herds lives, during the heavy 2022-2023 winter.
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Bernd Zeugswetter
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The padding on their hooves grips surfaces like a rock climbing shoe. Their ultra-powerful legs can propel them up near-vertical slopes at high speed. Their keen eyesight helps them spot food and predators across the vast expanses of the Sierra.
First off, the amount of snow was exceptional, at least in recent history. "Last winter was the largest in 23 years," said Karl Rittger, a research scientist at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.
A total of 11 atmospheric rivers hit California, dumping two to four times the average precipitation in the central and southern Sierra Nevada mountains, according to the institute's data.
Researchers had documented heavy losses of bighorn in the winter of 2016-2017 and, to a lesser extent, 2018-2019. But deaths this year were the highest since species recovery efforts began.
Stephenson said the Sierra Nevada had likely experienced storms of similar intensity at some point in history, and the bighorn species persisted. But because the population is now so small, it's difficult to sustain major losses.
"This is a good example of how much effort needs to go into recovering an endangered species once a population declines," he said.
A smaller population also means less genetic diversity that might help sheep weather future storms, said Dani Berger, a Ph.D student at Utah State University who studies the way Sierra Nevada bighorns handle snow.
"This is a game of small numbers and in small numbers you're vulnerable to things like unexpected changes in the environment," she said.
Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep rely on their excellent eyesight to spot approaching predators and sources of fodder.
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Bernd Zeugswetter
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Migration routes disrupted
Another potential reason the Sierra bighorns fared so poorly this year is because they lack generational knowledge of migration routes that might've helped them find food and escape avalanche-prone areas. Some of the herds that experienced the biggest losses this year were relatively new to their area — within the last 10 years — either because they moved there on their own or because researchers transported them there.
"Those historic migration patterns would have given them many more opportunities to move to lower elevations where they would be much less impacted by these severe winters," Stephenson said.
Still, Berger noted, in many parts of the Sierra, the winter was so snowy, including at lower elevations, that the sheep had no good options.
"If you stay up high, you might die in an avalanche and might not have food. Or you can come down to lower elevations and risk being eaten by a mountain lion," Berger said. "It's hard to say which is the bigger threat, but it seems this winter, snow was definitely the bigger threat."
Mountain lions threaten recovery
In late August, the Los Angeles Times reported on the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program’s failed effort several years ago to relocate two male mountain lions to a desert mountain range to prevent them from preying on the bighorn sheep.
One of the lions had killed more than 10 Sierra bighorns, Stephenson said, "so we really couldn't just let it remain within the recovery area and continue to eat bighorn sheep."
Mating season for bighorn sheep takes place in the fall. Rams compete to mate with the females, including by slamming their heads together.
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The hope, Stephenson said, was that moving the lions to a mountain range in the Mojave National Preserve — with a large stretch of desert between them and the Sierra Nevada — would prevent the lions from trying to return.
But they did try. One starved to death in the desert while the other was so emaciated that it had to be euthanized. Mountain lion advocates, referenced in the L.A. Times piece, said the effort caused the animals unnecessary suffering.
After the L.A. Times and several other media outlets published articles, Stephenson said he got threats from angered readers and calls for his resignation.
Stephenson said he felt the story failed to explain the dire straits faced by Sierra bighorn and his program's longer-term efforts to manage the directly competing interests of the sheep and lions.
When the Sierra bighorns were listed as endangered, mountain lions were recognized as a major threat to their recovery. In the early years of the recovery program, mountain lions known to target bighorn sheep were regularly euthanized — sometimes several of them each year, he said.
Stephenson said the program has since shifted toward relocating mountain lions to areas where they have abundant deer and other prey. They've learned that it's much easier to relocate female lions than males "because [males] have such a strong homing instinct and they want to return," he said.
"We're obviously trying to run this recovery program as responsibly as possible and we aren't trying to eliminate lions from the eastern Sierra," Stephenson said. He added that the local mountain lion population "is still incredibly healthy."
The wild sheep ranks highest among the animal mountaineers of the Sierra. Possessed of keen sight and scent, and strong limbs, he dwells secure amid the loftiest summits, leaping unscathed from crag to crag, up and down the fronts of giddy precipices, crossing foaming torrents and slopes of frozen snow, exposed to the wildest storms, yet maintaining a brave, warm life, and developing from generation to generation in perfect strength and beauty.
— John Muir, "The Mountains of California," 1894
Historically, grizzly bears and wolves that once lived in the Sierra Nevada might have kept the mountain lion population in check.
"We know that wolves preyed on mountain lions," Stock said. "So our predator-prey system is kind of out of whack. And that could be part of the issue that we're seeing play out right now."
Wehausen sees a glimmer of hope in a new pack of gray wolves that made an appearance this summer in Sequoia National Forest.
What climate change might mean for Sierra bighorn
The upside of all that winter precipitation was plentiful summer forage for the surviving sheep and their new lambs. LAist joined researchers on a recent hike to look for bighorn on the backside of Wheeler Ridge, northwest of Bishop. A group of around 10 sheep — ewes, rams and yearlings — nibbled grass at the bottom of a snowfield.
Two of the rams occasionally butted heads, a sign that mating season is starting.
Tom Stephenson has headed up the Sierra bighorn recovery program since 2008.
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Bernd Zeugswetter
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Some of the sheep wore tracking collars with a colored tag to make them easier to spot among the tan and beige boulders that provide near perfect camouflage. Almost all had bulging bellies.
Whether that translates to healthier herd numbers next year might depend on whether the sheep face another harsh winter.
As the climate changes, the Sierra Nevada is expected to experience less snow, on average, but also more intense storms. If temperatures are warmer, more water makes its way into the atmosphere through a process called evapotranspiration, Rittger, the snow expert, explained.
"There's more water in the atmosphere for it to sort of drop onto the Sierra Nevada so you can get these big, extreme storms and we just happened to get a bunch of those last year," Rittger said.
How to spot bighorn sheep, responsibly
Two distinct subspecies of bighorn sheep live in California. Sierra Nevada bighorns live in the central and southern part of the mountain range.
You're most likely to see them on, or at the base of, steep, rocky slopes where they can easily get away from predators.
Spotting them requires patience, silence and good eyes. Good binoculars or a spotting scope also help a lot.
Dogs can scare away bighorns so it's best to leave them at home or keep them on a leash in bighorn territory. Some areas where bighorn sheep live prohibit pets so please follow the local rules.
More intense storms could be especially hard on herds that live in the typically snowiest parts of the Sierra Nevada and where it's harder to find paths down and out of the snow. This includes the northern herds around Yosemite.
Wehausen told LAist that during his decades of work trying to recover bighorn sheep, he's "been surprised at lots of things that slapped us in the face," including last season’s devastating winter.
He has come to think that saving the species will require much longer-term thinking — figuring out how best to help them withstand the still-uncertain future climate.
"They're really a magnificent animal living in a magnificent mountain range," Wehausen said. "I think it's worth the effort to get them to the next glacial period."
Early every Saturday for the last three and a half years, William Campbell, 61, leaves his Silver Lake home to be at the Angels Flight station for the first ride at 6:45 a.m.
Why it matters: Campbell is one of a team of operators behind the proverbial wheel of the two near-identical funiculars — named Olivet and Sinai — that go up and down a 33% angle slope from Hill Street to Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles.
The backstory: Campbell is also a superfan and has been researching the Bunker Hill funicular's 124-year history.
Early every Saturday for the last three and a half years, William Campbell, 61, leaves his Silver Lake home to be at the Angels Flight station for the first ride at 6:45 a.m.
Campbell is one of a team of operators behind the proverbial wheel of the two near-identical funiculars — named Olivet and Sinai — that go up and down a 33% angle slope from Hill Street to Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles.
“You’re a part of living history,” said Campbell, who is dressed in an orange and black waistcoat and bow tie, and wears a bowler hat with a monarch butterfly on top. There’s a reason for that, he said mysteriously.
Angels Flight on Bunker Hill.
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James Bartlett
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Today, I am the first rider. Soon after, I am joined by a family visiting from Texas.
“I was just looking at a local tourist place, and I just saw this small, cute railway,” said Michael Nguyen, who was alongside his mother and sister. “I was like, oh, this looks interesting. And I saw that you can actually go on it. I was like, OK, that’s pretty dope.”
Masterminded by lawyer, politician and engineer Col. James Ward Eddy, the Angels Flight “hillevator” opened on New Year’s Eve 1901 as a way for people to travel up and down Bunker Hill, which was then the place where the city’s wealthy population lived.
The journey took them down to the streets and stores below and from 1917, Grand Central Market, with the first passengers paying just a penny fare for what was billed as the “shortest railway in America,” traveling just 298 feet.
When he’s not working his weekday full-time day job investigating animal cruelty and abuse, Campbell spends his spare time looking through online newspaper archives for any information about Angels Flight.
Angels Flight Railway.
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James Bartlett
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LAist
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Angels Flight Railway.
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James Bartlett
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LAist
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Originally located by the 3rd Street Tunnel — at the end of the block from where it is now — the train has been through several changes, as has Bunker Hill itself.
“All the wealthy people moved to Beverly Hills, and Brentwood, and Bel Air, and beyond. And all their wonderful Victorian mansions were turned into boarding houses, and it attracted a lower income, more diverse population, which resulted in blight and crime — at least according to the city,” Campbell said of Bunker Hill's transformation.
City officials authorized Bunker Hill to be all but razed in the 1950s and '60s, and Angels Flight was put into what was promised to be temporary storage for a year or two, despite protests from singer Peggy Lee and others.
Angels Flight Railway 351 S. Hill St., Los Angeles Daily, 6:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. A round-trip ticket is $3, which is orange and has a souvenir portion. A one-way trip is $1.75 or $1 for TAP cardholders. William Campbell works there every Saturday and will happily talk to you if he can. You can find out more about Campbell's wildlife interests and win a prize in Angels Flight quizzes via Instagram.
The year was 1969. And it took nearly three decades for its return. Angels Flight welcomed passengers again in 1996 to its current location after test runs were made with cases of beer and soft drinks weighing 9,000 pounds. The cable cars were rebuilt exactly as before, but with modern safety requirements, such as Sinai having wheelchair space.
A 2001 accident in which one person died and seven were injured saw another long closure until 2010, and there was a derailment in 2014, which saw another short shuttering. But Angels Flight has been running ever since 2017, save the odd mechanical problem.
William Campbell.
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James Bartlett
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LAist
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Angels Flight keepsakes made by William Campbell for riders to take.
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James Bartlett
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Campbell describes himself as a cheerleader for Angels Flight, and you can easily see why. During his shift he pins up a 1904 photo of the city’s landscape taken from an 80-foot-high observation tower at the original location, so people can compare it to the skyscraper skyline of today.
“At one time you could see all the way to Catalina,” he noted.
There is also a display about near-forgotten Bunker Hill folk artist Marcel Cavalla, and Campbell gives away Angels Flight bookmarks, stickers and maps, all of which he researches, designs and prints out of his own pocket.
One of his projects, old advertisements from 1901 to the 1940s, is displayed in the panels above the seats, and was installed a couple of months ago.
Interior of Angels Flight, showcasing old advertisements from 1901 to the 1940s that Campbell installed.
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James Bartlett
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LAist
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One of the vintage ads for Catalina Carrier-Pigeon Service.
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James Bartlett
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LAist
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There's everything from old Market Basket supermarket ads, to Barbara Stanwyck shilling for Lux toilet soap, to a standard power mower from John Bean manufacturing, to one for the Catalina Carrier Pigeon Service, which operated from 1894 to 1902, taking messages from Avalon to Bunker Hill.
And the monarch butterfly on his hat? That’s related to his Angels Flight “holy grail,” the one question he can’t definitively answer: why were they painted orange and black?
With that, Campbell grabs his binoculars and sees there are passengers waiting for a ride up, so I get into Olivet and wave goodbye as I travel down to Hill Street.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published May 23, 2026 5:00 AM
The group Neighbors Helping Neighbors helps Altadena fire survivors clear weeds from burnt lots.
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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Topline:
A new group called Neighbors Helping Neighbors has been helping Eaton Fire survivors clear burnt lots of overgrown weeds.
Why now: The volunteering effort is not just to tidy things up – but to clear lots of fire fuels as the region enters fire season.
Backstory: The group is founded by Antoinette “Toni” Bailey-Raines, who grew up in Altadena and whose parents and sister all lost homes in the fire.
Read on ... to learn more about the group and how you can help.
A group called Neighbors Helping Neighbors has been clearing overgrown weeds for free on fire survivors' empty lots in Altadena.
They’ve finished 10 with many more to go. They’re keeping at it not just to keep things tidy, but to avert another disaster as the region enters fire season — and their efforts are spreading. More than 200 homeowners have signed up, after hearing about the group from its Facebook page and through word of mouth.
“I'm 5 feet 2 inches tall, but there were weeds 6 and 8 feet tall,” said Antoinette “Toni” Bailey-Raines, the ringleader. She is also a co-founder of Altadena Talks Foundation, a nonprofit started in the wake of the Eaton Fire.
Bailey-Raines lives in San Dimas but grew up in Altadena. Her parents and sister all lost their homes in the Eaton Fire.
“I went to my parents' lot one day,” she said. “I loaded up the back of my car with my lawnmower, my blower, my rake, because I wanted to make sure their lot was cleaned up.”
It took seven hours, but she figured all that overgrown vegetation can't be good for Altadena with the fire season just around the corner.
And just like that, the idea for Neighbors Helping Neighbors was born.
Antoinette “Toni” Bailey-Raines, founder of Neighbors Helping Neighbors.
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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Antoinette “Toni” Bailey-Raines at one of the cleared lots.
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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The very first lot, just south in Pasadena, was cleared in mid-April. Bailey-Raines said the property was getting notices from the city to clear the lot or face escalating fines. Pasadena conducts brush clearance inspections every spring and summer.
Toni said the family had moved to Mississippi after the Eaton Fire.
“You lost everything, and then somebody's gonna tell you they're gonna give you a fine because you have weeds on your lot and you're not even here to see that?” Bailey-Raines said.
That day, she rounded up a group of nine people, including her son and his friend. A neighbor across the street was suspicious at first, but eventually told her, "You have me for about an hour." He stayed for two.
The job took less than four hours.
A growing movement
On May 13, dozens of volunteers showed up in Altadena to clear seven lots in one morning.
One of them — a 14,000-square-foot lot — belongs to Sarkis Aleksanian and his family. He had reached out to Bailey-Raines in late April, after learning about the group from a neighborhood WhatsApp chat.
“I was looking into cleaning up the lot and really daunted by the prospect,” he said. “I was worried that the lawn would dry up and be a problem.”
Aleksanian and his wife were on hand to help out. It’s the one thing that Bailey-Raines requires — for the homeowners to be there.
“I've asked them that if they're able-bodied to be here and help,” she said. “You're here. You're encouraging people, and you're helping on your lot. [Sarkis] was doing everything from weed-eater, to chainsaw, to whatever, and that's what it's about.”
This 14,000-square-foot lot in Altadena was cleaned up in less than two hours on a recently Saturday.
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“It was just remarkable, I tell you,” Aleksanian said. He said he recognized some of the volunteers that morning — folks he sees in the community.
And he did encounter someone he knew — a high school acquaintance from years back. “It's neighbors helping neighbors, just like she called it, you know?” Aleksanian said.
His lot was finished in 90 minutes.
More is needed
With a growing waitlist, what is needed are people and equipment — from gloves and trash bags to the hardware.
“I have six brush cutters and two chainsaws and a couple trimmers, but I need, like, triple that at least,” she said.
Same goes for rechargeable batteries that power these tools — which Bailey-Raines juices up with generators they bring on-site.
“My dream is one Saturday morning to have 500 people and that we clear a whole street, a whole block — so that this list of 200 can go down, and as others hear about it, they get on it, and we as a community do this as neighbors to help one another,” she said.
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Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Published May 22, 2026 6:42 PM
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.
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NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Topline:
NASA plans to open the contract to manage the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge to a competitive bidding process, according to a memo the lab released Friday.
The backstory: Since NASA was established in 1958, Caltech has managed JPL for the federal space agency "through a contractual relationship that has been regularly reviewed and renewed," according to Friday's memo. NASA began its regular process of evaluating the contract last year.
Why it matters: JPL has been through several rounds of layoffsin recent years. The lab and the university are leaders in civilian space science, with missions that have sent spacecraft into Earth orbit, to Mars and as far from Earth as any man-made object. The lab is also a major employer in the region and hosts massive classes of interns from around the world. The news about the contract was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which said opening the contract to bidding is a first in JPL's history.
Why now: NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said in "a long letter discussing organizational changes" to staffers Friday that the space agency intends to issue a request for proposals for management of JPL. "This process will take several years, and I do not anticipate it having any impact on the projects underway or the location of the facilities," Isaacman wrote. "It does, however, provide an opportunity to evaluate management costs, overhead burdens and ideally find ways to get after the science faster and more affordably."
What's next: Caltech's contract runs through the end of September 2028. "This announcement comes as no surprise," Caltech's president and JPL's director wrote to staffers Friday. "Caltech is well prepared with a team established last summer to ensure we are positioned for success, and we will respond to the request for proposal (RFP) once released."
Erin Stone
covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published May 22, 2026 4:21 PM
A recently released juvenile southwestern pond turtle swims in the San Gabriel River in the Angeles National Forest.
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Ken Bohn
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Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
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Topline:
There’s a day for everything, and Saturday is World Turtle Day. This is the story of how humans helped a vulnerable native California turtle.
The backstory: Southwestern pond turtles in the San Gabriel mountains were almost wiped out by the Bobcat Fire in 2020. But biologists rescued 11 adults that were held at the San Diego Zoo until 2024, when they were released.
The baby boom: But then something happened that scientists didn't expect: "One baby, two baby, three baby, four baby. Fifteen babies later," is how a wildlife care manager at the zoo described it. Yes, the rescued turtles had laid eggs in their temporary home, and the hatchlings were emerging.
A new generation: Once they'd grown a bit, the zoo released the young turtles into San Gabriel River where they belong in April.
Read on ... for more about this conservation success story.
After fires and floods, Southern California’s only remaining native freshwater turtle recently got a boost.
Just last month, 15 southwestern pond turtle hatchlings were released into the San Gabriel River — a major milestone in an effort to restore the vulnerable turtle population.
But this wasn’t a typical raise-and-release scenario.
These turtles’ parents went on a harrowing journey before they were born.
The fire eventually scorched more than 180 square miles — mostly forest in the San Gabriel Mountains. For comparison, the 2025 Eaton Fire burned about 22 square miles.
Lights from a fire truck illuminate firefighters working the Bobcat Fire in September 2021.
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Frederic J. Brown
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Getty Images
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As the Bobcat Fire spread, biologists grew worried. The fire was burning in the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, a biodiversity hotspot and refuge for bears and mountain lions, the federally protected Santa Ana sucker fish and the mountain yellow-legged frog.
It’s also home to the largest remaining — and possibly only — population of southwestern pond turtles in the entire watershed. Their exact numbers aren’t known, but it’s likely less than 200.
What is a southwestern pond turtle?
The small, shy turtles grow to about 8 inches and range from Baja California to just south of the San Francisco Bay. They spend most of their lives in streams, rivers, lakes and other watery environments. They primarily eat small insects and plant matter.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife lists them as a Species of Special Concern, and they're being considered for federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
“Because this hadn’t burned in decades and decades and decades, there was big concern about debris flows,” said Robert Fisher, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Scientists hoped the turtles would be able to ride out the fire itself by staying in the water, but any rain after would likely lead to a deluge of mud, trees and other burned materials. That would be akin to an avalanche for the turtles in the river, and it had the potential to wipe out the entire population.
Once the flames died down, Fisher and a team of biologists, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Forest Service, trekked to the home of the pond turtles.
“It was a moonscape,” Fisher said.
They waded through ashy, murky waters, eventually collecting 11 adult turtles.
World Turtle Day’s SoCal cred
There’s a day for everything these days, but World Turtle Day (May 23) has surprisingly local roots.
Susan Tellem and her late husband, Marshall Thompson, coined the day in 2000 after founding a turtle and tortoise rescue 10 years earlier at their home in Malibu.
“When I first started helping turtles, there were hardly people helping the needs of turtles,” Tellem told LAist. “We decided to help educate people internationally so that turtles can live a longer and happier life.”
A temporary home and 15 surprises
The turtles were taken to the San Diego Zoo, where the plan was to hold them until their mountain habitat recovered enough for them to return.
By 2024, the San Gabriel Mountains were looking far better — biologists even found some pond turtles that survived major debris flows.
But right before the turtles were set to go back home, scientists got a surprise.
“Just before we were getting to release, we found a baby turtle, which is amazing,” said Brandon Scott, wildlife care manager of herpetology and ichthyology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “You don't know how long it's going to take to restart that process of them actually being able to breed, with the stress and it's a new habitat.”
A juvenile southwestern pond turtle is weighed before being released to the wild.
(
Ken Bohn
/
Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
)
The turtles and the new baby were all returned to their home in the San Gabriels. But then came another surprise. And another.
“We just continually, every day, started finding a baby in that habitat,” said Scott.
Female southwestern pond turtles lay and bury their eggs in late spring or early summer. Juveniles emerge months later, only about the size of a quarter.
Fifteen babies later, conservation staff were shocked and pleased.
Their goal for the 11 rescued turtles was to make sure they could thrive before being released back into their habitat. “But in the process,” Scott said, “yes, we made it comfortable enough for them to breed.”
A hopeful release
The new generation of southwestern pond turtles was released in April near the spot their parents were rescued from in the San Gabriel River.
Such rescues of vulnerable wildlife are becoming increasingly common in the face of more catastrophic fires. All but two of the biggest fires in recorded history have been in the last 20 years.
Fisher said a similar rescue of pond turtles had occurred only once before, after the 2009 Station Fire in the San Gabriels. That time, the turtles were quickly returned to their habitat.
A staff member of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance releases a juvenile southwestern pond turtle into the San Gabriel River.
(
Ken Bohn
/
Courtesy San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
)
That rescue, in part, inspired the U.S. Geological Survey to work with the San Diego Zoo to build a conservation habitat for southwestern pond turtles nearly two decades ago. And the Bobcat Fire became the first time it was used for wild rescues, Fisher said.
Ironically, the Bobcat Fire could eventually help the local population, Fisher said.
“We’ve known about [the population] for decades, but it’s not really thriving,” he said. “So this helped give it a head start. And because the fire was so intense, it opened up a lot of habitat.”
With less tree canopy and more sunlight, the cold-blooded reptiles could thrive in warmer waters and on sunnier rocks.
Threats to southwestern pond turtles
Southwestern pond turtles have lived here for millennia, but invasive species and habitat destruction have nearly wiped them out. They’re currently being considered for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Nonnative turtles — such as red-eared sliders, many of which are abandoned pets — are outcompeting them in their habitats. And native pond turtle hatchlings are easy prey for invasive animals such as bullfrogs and crayfish.
On top of that, pollution in our atmosphere is driving longer, hotter droughts, which dries out the streams and rivers where they live. Worsening “weather whiplash” means more dangerous mudflows after fires, which can wipe out entire aquatic animal populations.
But the new generation is key.
“Because the site was so forested and hadn’t burned in so long, we don’t think they were having good success at breeding,” Fisher said. “Now we think we’ve really enhanced the population by putting more animals out there, especially young animals.”
Scott and Fisher said the saga has inspired preliminary conversations about formalizing breeding efforts to support the population. The little turtles' myriad threats have yet to let up, so they’ll likely need more help in the future.
But at the moment, there’s a little more hope — at least 16 hatchlings and 11 adults' worth of hope, to be exact — for California’s only native freshwater turtle.
