The Brief

The last time there was proof of a mountain lion roaming the Verdugo Mountains was in 2018, when P-55, also known as Adonis, was captured by hidden wildlife cameras.

It was a big deal then, because the Verdugo Mountains had lost another male cougar in 2017. Biologists at the time were hopeful that Adonis would mate with a known female in the area called Nikita. When Adonis left the area, Nikita stopped appearing on the cameras.

But last December, a handsome male cougar was captured by the camera of wildlife photographer Johanna Turner.

Local residents of the Verdugo Mountains call him the La Tuna Puma whom wildlife photographer Johanna Turner captured on camera last year.

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Courtesy Johanna Turner

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Turner is a consultant with the Cougar Conservancy and she’s been documenting the movement of Southern California’s mountain lions in the Verdugo Mountains since 2011.

“It has, you know, several canyons with year-round water sources and lots of deer and no competition,” said Turner. Residents share the mountain space with native species and the area attracts avid hikers who enjoy exploring the shrubbery.

For Turner, seeing another puma wander the Verdugos is exciting.

“As long as he doesn't bother people, he should settle in really nicely.”

Right now, the mountain lion’s main threat is Canyon Hills — a 221-luxury home development slated to be built in the heart of his territory.

The trajectory of the Canyon Hills project spans 20 years, dating back to its approval in 2005.

At the time, local environmental activists and community members opposed the project that’s set to rise on both sides of the 210 Freeway in Sunland-Tujunga.

Resistance has resurfaced now that the project’s developer, Nevada based Whitebird Inc, has applied for a grading permit to begin shaving off 80 feet of ridgelines.

When Emma Kemp, a Tujunga resident, heard about the grading permit, she reached out to local wildlife advocates, botanists and Gabrielino/Tongva and Fernandeño Tataviam tribe members to mobilize their efforts to stop the development project. She formed the community group No Canyon Hills and started a petition to request a second environmental impact report (EIR) that, as of now, has over 170,000 signatures. 

“This is an opportunity to press pause and reevaluate before we further fragment the habitat here,” said Kemp.

Emma Kemp, a Sunland-Tujunga resident and co-founder of No Canyon Hills, bends down to smell fresh buckwheat in the Verdugos.

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Gillian Morán Pérez

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LAist

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The argument

Approval for the project was based on an EIR approved in 2004.

The No Canyon Hills group and other wildlife advocates are demanding the city intervene and request another EIR. But Whitebird Inc. attorney Jack Rubens stands by the city’s decision made years ago.

“A second EIR cannot be required for the Canyon Hills Project because it's fully entitled and doesn't require any further discretionary approval,” Rubens said.

And there’s another issue that No Canyon Hills says underscores the need for a new EIR. The proposed development stands in a Very High Fire Severity Zone, according to the city of Los Angeles Fire Protection Bureau.

The area has seen multiple wildfires in the past, the latest being the La Tuna Fire in 2017 which destroyed five homes and charred 7,200 acres of land. To this day, the surviving scraps of burnt trees and bushes remain.

A charred tree in the middle of the Verdugos.

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Courtesy Rio Asch Phoenix

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Rubens says that if anything, the development will help mitigate wildfire risk.

“It will provide a new southern evacuation route for those residents to La Tuna Canyon Road in the 210 Freeway and include a new 1 million-gallon water tank close to the existing neighborhoods.”

Rubens adds the road will give firefighters better access to the hillside once the road system is constructed.

The city’s role in the project

Dean Wallraff is an attorney working with No Canyon Hills and the executive director of Advocates for the Environment. He was part of the original effort to stop the Canyon Hills development when it first came to city council back in 2003.

Wallraff sent a letter to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, the Los Angeles City Planning Department, and Councilmember Monica Rodriguez’s office arguing that the grading permit would be discretionary and would trigger further review from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Per CEQA guidelines, a project is deemed discretionary if it requires a public agency or body, like a city council, to exercise its judgment and approve or disapprove the project.

Kemp met with Rodriguez in April to discuss the Canyon Hills project, but Rodriguez said her hands are tied.

Here’s what she said in a recent statement to LAist:

We asked City Planning if the grading permit requires discretion and their response was — no.

Instead, the permit is deemed ministerial. That means “a governmental decision involving little or no personal judgment by the public official as to the wisdom or manner of carrying out the project.” In short, a public official can’t use their personal, subjective judgment to carry out a decision on the project.

What’s at stake

A stream of water flowing through the Verdugos.

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Courtesy Rio Asch Phoenix

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“This is one of the only one of the few recreation areas for the city of Los Angeles,” said Lydia Grant, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council.

The Verdugos are rich with native species including the crotch bumblebee which is listed as federally endangered under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Having lost 70% of its habitat over the years, the bumblebee is also listed by the state as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need.

A trek into the Verdugo Mountains will lead you to other native fauna, like the Hollyleaf Cherry tree, which amateur botanist Haley Hopkins says is a keystone species. It provides food and habitat to other creatures. One of the oldest Hollyleaf Cherry trees stands on the proposed site of Canyon Hills.

“It's like this ripple effect because then there's gonna be less bugs around because they're not gonna have as much food. And then that's gonna hit your birds next, and then your small mammals, and then …that means apex predators,” says Hopkins. The La Tuna Puma is a critical apex predator.

The bush poppy, a plant known as a fire follower that sprouts in areas that went through wildfires.

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Courtesy of No Canyon Hills

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LAist

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Devlin Gandy, a conservationist, says that the Verdugo Mountains function as a “completely viable wildlife habitat and corridor in a ring perspective that encircles a suburban sprawl” connecting the Tujunga wash to the Hahamonga Watershed near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

When the final EIR came out in 2004, it did not detect any mountain lions throughout the area. It described the potential for wildlife using the pathway between the Tujunga Wash and the Verdugo Mountains as “tenuous at best” and that ultimately, the proposed development would not affect that connection.

But that was then, and this is now say local wildlife advocates, and there’s plenty of cougar scat to show that they do pass through the area.

To that point, Rubens says that Whitebird has already taken measures to address wildlife movement.

“Whitebird revisited this issue with Caltrans in connection with an approval that was required for the project and agreed to construct two wildlife friendly fences between the freeway."

The southern edge of the project provides an additional potential movement path for the mountain lion, even though it's an unlikely path due to its proximity to noise and light from freeway vehicles,” said Rubens.

A screenshot of the developer Whitebird Inc's proposed Wildlife Movement Path that would create a fence around the housing development

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Courtesy No Canyon Hills

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Elephant Hill serves as inspiration

Doug Carstens, another environmental attorney helping No Canyon Hills, recalls a similar battle that started in 1984 and ended in 2007 — the fight to save Elephant Hill.

Residents in El Sereno mobilized to save Elephant Hill, one of the few parks in the area filled with walnut groves.

In 2004, the L.A. City Council at the time approved a 24-lot development that was proposed in 1984 but locals found out that the developer expanded that to 56 lots without further review. The community partnered with Carstens' law firm to contest the development.

It wasn’t until 2007 when former Councilmember Jose Huizar persuaded the council to withhold issuing a building permit until another EIR was submitted by the developer. The developer sued, but in the end, the city council purchased the land, declaring victory for locals.

While the Elephant Hill case was different, Carstens says that that story serves a purpose.

“I think it's at the heart of this, which is, can you do further environmental review and are you legally required to when an approval, you know, was granted at a certain level, so many years ago,” said Carstens.

'We're all connected to it'

In a recent conversation between No Canyon Hills and the developer, the developer said they would consider selling the land — for upwards of $10 million.

Kemp says that’s a huge deal for their fight and they are courting philanthropic foundations and local conservancy groups to save this portion of the Verdugos.

At a community meeting in early June, supporters of No Canyon Hills gathered to hear about the project's status. Supporters filled the pews of the Church of Verdugos and their chatter electrified the air.

Community members gather at the visioning event hosted by No Canyon Hills.

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Gillian Morán Pérez

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Kemp called it a “visioning event” where people could come together and share ideas.

Nathan Nuñez, a Gabrielino Indigenous cultural keeper, said that it’s important to save the cultural resources, the plants, the animals, the land saying, “we're all connected to it.”

Jen Ho, a La Crescenta resident, left her house for the first time in five months after having her baby to attend the meeting.

“I'm really committed to protecting the land for future generations on top of wishing this land be kept intact for wildlife and plants. I would love for this people-led movement to become a pivotal changing point in how L.A. city governs."

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is rolling back a rule prohibiting logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests, including more than 4 million acres of federally managed forest lands in California.

The change could open some of California's most remote backcountry to new roads and development — even as U.S. Forest Service research shows that roads are a major source of wildfire ignitions in the state's national forests.

People start most of California’s wildfires, including on federal land — and it’s not just sparks from faulty power lines. Fires can start in many ways: A hiker might burn toilet paper in the backcountry, a hot tub might be miswired, or someone might drag a tow chain or pull a hot car onto dry grass.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who first announced the plan last year, said Tuesday that federal officials filed a proposal and environmental impact statement to rescind the rule in order to reduce barriers to managing fuels on public lands.

“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities,” Rollins said in a statement.

But in California, the U.S. Forest Service’s own research points to a complication: Roads and the people who travel on them are known conduits for fire.

Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service mapped 26 years of fire ignitions along roughly 850 miles of roads in the Angeles, San Bernardino, Los Padres and Cleveland national forests. All of them, according to a Forest Service map, also contain roadless reaches.

The mapping effort revealed that nearly two-thirds of the fires people caused in these forests sparked along roadsides — places where people, the sparks they create and fuel in the form of flammable, invasive grasses often converge.

California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said that the roadless rule has not hindered California’s forest management and prescribed fire efforts.

“In fact, more than 240,000 acres of roadless land in California have undergone vegetation treatments to reduce wildfire risk and protect nearby communities,” Crowfoot said in a letter to Rollins last September. He cited an example in the Caples Creek roadless area south of Lake Tahoe, which he said helped shield communities during the 2021 Caldor Fire.

Crowfoot warned that opening these areas to construction, timber harvests and mining “may put rural communities at increased risk of fire and significantly increase firefighting costs of California.”

A national pattern

It’s not just California. A recent peer-reviewed study by scientists with the Wilderness Society reported earlier this year that wildfire ignitions in national forests across the country are four times more likely near roads. From 1992 to 2024, wildfire ignition densities were lowest in designated wilderness areas, followed by roadless areas. They were highest within 50 meters of roads.

“Opening our backcountry forests to more roads and development and therefore more ignitions is also not a wildfire solution and never will be,” said Josh Hicks, the Wilderness Society’s director of conservation campaigns.

The Trump administration said rescinding the rule doesn’t automatically mandate timber harvests or building roads. Instead, it would leave decisions to local national forest managers.

“Future land management decisions would be based on natural resource conditions and needs and informed by states, tribes and communities,” the Agriculture Department’s announcement said Tuesday.

Why more roads?

Environmental advocates are skeptical, especially in light of the Trump administration's executive order last year calling for an “immediate expansion of American timber production.”

The roadless rule also already allows for roads to be constructed or rebuilt to protect health and safety from the threat of wildfire.

Retired U.S. Forest Service chiefs, including one who served during the first Trump administration, said in an opinion piece last year that repealing the rule threatens key watersheds and wildlife.

“Why build more roads when the agency, strapped for resources, can’t even maintain the ones that already exist?” they asked. “Let’s not forget the reasons these backcountry areas do not have roads. The easily accessible high-value timber from national forests has been harvested. What little that remains in these roadless backcountry areas is difficult and costly to access.”

U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat and ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, blasted the Trump administration for moving forward on rescinding the rule during a catastrophic fire season following the Trump administration’s slashing of the U.S. Forest Service. He vowed to fight it in Congress.

“The Trump administration is at again, selling out our public lands to corporate polluters, ignoring the overwhelming objections of the American people,” Huffman said in a statement. He added: “It’s reckless.”

The public has until midnight on Sept. 21 to comment.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Two months after the Lineage warehouse fire, Maria Mendez is still having trouble sleeping. The 68-year-old Boyle Heights resident has dealt with nausea, respiratory and eye problems, as well as anxiety attacks, since the June 17 blaze.

And she’s not alone. A new report from St. John’s Community Health found that nearly 36% of 1,306 patients seen at its mobile clinics between June 17 and July 31 had serious health problems the organization attributed to exposure to smoke and toxic chemicals.

The findings come weeks after Mayor Karen Bass faced criticism for saying the air was “not dangerous” in the early days of the fire. Bass later apologized for the confusion, saying “all smoke under all circumstances is harmful.”

The report offers an early look at the physical and mental health toll of the fire on residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. 

The health problems identified included acute upper respiratory infections, eye disorders and conjunctivitis, persistent cough and asthma exacerbation.

Maria Mendez of Boyle Heights talks about the symptoms she has experienced since the Lineage fire at a press conference outside InnerCity Struggle on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

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Alejandra Molina

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Boyle Heights Beat

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“Our community, my friends, my neighbors have suffered in the past two months,” Mendez said, detailing the putrid odors and rat and fly infestation they’ve encountered as Lineage works to clean the food waste left behind by the fire. 

Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John’s Community Health, outlined the results at a press conference Tuesday at InnerCity Struggle in Boyle Heights. Among those there were residents, including Mendez, and community leaders Henry Perez, executive director of InnerCity Struggle, and Rudy Espinoza, executive director of Inclusive Action for the City.

Patients were largely Latino (91.7%), female (64.4%) and 50 or older (63.5%). The report found that 26.6% were diagnosed with toxic smoke exposure and 24.5% received hazardous substance diagnoses. 

Dozens of patients were prescribed anxiety and/or sleep medication to treat acute stress after the fire, which, according to St. John’s, was related to the following: environmental exposure, sleep disruption and insomnia, housing instability, lease termination requests, relocation concerns, ongoing uncertainty regarding environmental safety, and psychosocial distress associated with displacement and recovery. 

“What we’re seeing now are the acute impacts, but what we’re not seeing yet are the long term impacts, and that’s where you’re going to see the most damage,” Mangia said. 

“You’re going to see a significant increase in asthma rates in Boyle Heights. You’re going to see an increase in cardiac issues. You’re going to see an increase in mental health issues,” he added.

Cristian Morales walks from his nearby home to watch the fire with his five-year-old son Cristian Morales Jr. He’s lived in the neighborhood for five years.

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Steve Saldivar

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The LA Local

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In the report, St. John’s noted that in one case, a patient with asthma arrived at a mobile clinic with “worsening shortness of breath.” Providers administered an urgent breathing treatment onsite and supplied inhaler medications to help manage ongoing symptoms, according to the report. 

Providers documented providing hydroxyzine therapy and discussing coping strategies with a patient experiencing anxiety, sleep disruption and environmental stress related to ongoing fire exposure concerns. 

Mangia also pushed back against South Coast AQMD and Lineage for stating that measured ammonia levels do not exceed the state threshold requiring action to protect public health.

“That’s a direct contradiction with what we’re seeing on the ground by serving and providing health care. We’re seeing the health impacts of this fire,” he said. “To claim that it’s not at toxic levels, it’s not at emergency levels, that’s all doublespeak.”

Mangia said they are seeing eye infections “that we can’t get rid of” and asthma attacks in children.

“We always track the health conditions of the people we serve. We tracked it before the fire, and we saw a complete difference in the health conditions from before and now. So, that’s public proof,” Mangia said. 

I can’t believe school is already back in session across much of the area. What happened to summer? I’m still only halfway through my TBF summer reading pile…

To celebrate the start of the new school year, you can’t go wrong heading out for a DineLA deal one evening (through Aug. 28) or hitting up one of the many Dudamel farewell shows at the Hollywood Bowl.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can follow what’s next for Shadow after the loss of Jackie, check out FilmWeek's review of the new thriller The End of Oak Street, and take a look at where to see the work of late L.A. artist Betye Saar.

Music

For non-Dudamel music this week — and there’s tons — check out highlights from Licorice Pizza’s picks, including a free in-store performance by Bleu at their location in Studio City on Saturday.

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Francesco Prandoni

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Getty Images

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Wednesday

• Herbie Hancock celebrates Miles Davis at the Hollywood Bowl
• Brett Dennen at the Venice West

Thursday

• Mt. Joy at the Greek (they’ll be there Friday too)
• Men at Work, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Shonen Knife at the United Theater

Friday

• The Maine with Hellogoodbye at House of Blues Anaheim
• Knocks at the Bellwether

Saturday

• Just Like Heaven festival with LCD Soundsystem, the Strokes, Chromeo, Feist, George Clanton at Brookside at the Rose Bowl. Wear sunscreen!
• Goldfinger, the Vandals, the Suicide Machines, and more at Hollywood Palladium
• Free “Freestyle Fools” festival with Lisa Lisa and others at Pershing Square

Sunday

• Benefit for Venezuela earthquake relief with Gustavo Dudamel, Beck and others at the Hollywood Bowl
• Free “Maldita Vecindad” show with Kinky, Tijuana at Pershing Square Park
• Slayyyter at Shrine Expo Hall

Monday

• Melissa Etheridge at the Grammy Museum
• The Breeders at the Hollywood Palladium

Tuesday

• Tori Amos at the Greek
• Jeff Goldblum with his Mildred Snitzer Orchestra at the Blue Note on Tuesday (and Wednesday)

Events

Letterpress Surplus Sale and Wayzgoose Celebration

Saturday, Aug. 22, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
International Printing Museum 
315 W. Torrance Blvd., Carson
COST: $12-$15; MORE INFO

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Courtesy The International Printing Museum

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It makes sense that back-to-school season is also historically “printing season,” so celebrate all things letterpress at the annual Wayzgoose Celebration at Carson’s International Printing Museum. From workshops on paper marbling and foil printing to demos and more, you’ll be making your own hipster greeting card line in no time.

Christian Marclay: The Clock

Through Sunday, Aug. 23
LACMA 
5905 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile
COST: Included in museum admission; MORE INFO

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Courtesy LACMA

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In a time before AI video editing and easy access to all the videos ever made, artist Christian Marclay made The Clock, a 24-hour film that follows a complete day with an image of a clock — spliced from TV shows, movies, commercials, you name it — of the exact time in every scene. LACMA hasn’t shown the film since 2015, so head over and catch it during regular museum hours or for a full 24 hours until the weekend. I saw 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. last week, but I want a full report from anyone awake enough to catch the 4 a.m. session!

Nelson German: Caribbean Cocktails book tour

Thursday, Aug. 20, 6 p.m. 
Williams Sonoma South Coast Plaza
3333 Bear Street Ste. 155, Costa Mesa
COST: $24, includes book; MORE INFO

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Nelson German

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Eventbrite

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Top Chef alum and chef-restaurateur Nelson German will host a live cocktail-mixing demonstration at South Coast Plaza in celebration of his new book, Caribbean Cocktails. German will sign books and discuss his recipes that bring flavors of the Afro-Latino diaspora to the table. Tickets include a copy of his new book.

Philip K. Dick Festival 

Through Sunday, Aug. 23 
Fullerton Marriott at Cal State University 
2701 Nutwood Ave., Fullerton 
COST: Varies; MORE INFO

PKD flyers outside the Pollak Library, where his papers are housed.

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Robert Garrova / LAist

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The author behind near-future pop culture touchstones like Minority Report and The Man in the High Castle spent the last 10 years of his life in Santa Ana, so it’s only fitting that Fullerton would host a festival celebrating one of its most unique denizens. The fourth annual Philip K. Dick festival is this weekend; LAist’s Robert Garrova previewed the event and learned more about the beloved — and out-there — author.

Anthony Hopkins and Dudamel 

Tuesday, Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m.
Grammy Museum 
800 W. Olympic Blvd., Downtown L.A. 
COST: SOLD OUT, waitlist available; MORE INFO

No one in L.A. is busier this week than Gustavo Dudamel, who has his last few performances at the Hollywood Bowl before he heads to the New York Philharmonic next season. Catch him at one of the many farewell shows at the Bowl, or head downtown and hopefully score a ticket to hear him in conversation with actor Sir Anthony Hopkins. The two collaborated on 88-year-old Hopkins’s newly released first album as a composer, Life Is a Dream.

VinylCon 

Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22 and 23  
California Market Center
110 E. Ninth St., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FROM $12.45; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy VinylCon

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Whether you’re looking to round out your record collection or have a specific LP in mind, head to VinylCon at the California Market Center, where rows and rows of records will greet you. Crate-diggers, unite!

Mindfulness Mornings 

Saturday, Aug. 22, and Sunday, Sept. 13, 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Natural History Museum 
900 Exposition Blvd., Expo Park 
COST: $30, includes museum admission and parking; MORE INFO

Start the weekend off with mindfulness among the wonders at the Natural History Museum. Yoga practices and sound baths are on the agenda monthly before the museum opens, but stick around to check out the exhibits once your calming session wraps up. This week’s is sold out, but plan ahead for the Sept. 13 event.

Los Feliz Writers Festival 

Through Sunday, Aug. 23
Various locations
Los Feliz
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

Learn about the writers of Los Feliz — past and present — at the Los Feliz Writers Festival. From a personal essay workshop to spoken-word performances; a food-and-sensory writing experience at Bar Covell to a zine hangout at Barnsdall Art Park; there’s something for writers and readers of all stripes at this free, volunteer-run festival.

Save the Woman’s Club of Hollywood: Old Hollywood Variety Show

Saturday, Aug. 22, 6 p.m.
1749 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood 
COST: $33.85; MORE INFO

Come for the stand-up comedy, the magic and Bob Baker Marionettes; stay for the good cause — a fundraiser for the Hollywood Women’s Club. The club is 121 years old and donated the land for what’s now the beloved Hollywood Bowl.