On my hike last weekend, I came across the Runyon Canyon fire recovery getting a hands-on boost as neighbors, park staff and local nonprofits spent Saturday morning pulling invasive weeds and planting native shrubs.
A lot of us have noticed the park has seemingly bounced back nicely after the devastating Sunset Fire in January, thanks to Mother Nature and, apparently, a little help from her friends. So with that, I decided to stop down and see what was up.
Turns out Saturday’s work day was led by the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Recreation and Parks ecology team, with junior urban ecologist Ryan Kinzel helping volunteers tell the difference between what to pull and what to protect.
“We’ve cleared out a bunch of invasive plants and are replacing with native plants,” Kinzel told WEHOonline. Species going into the ground included California buckwheat, purple sage, deer grass and coyote brush, all plants that evolved with this landscape and help “increase biodiversity in the park” and make the hillsides more resilient. “We are trying to bring back the plants that actually belong here and that are adapted to this climate,” he said. Before planting, crews and volunteers removed invading species like mallow, tree tobacco and castor bean. Those plants tend to form thick, dry mats that act like a fuse when fire moves through a canyon. Native plants can still burn, Kinzel noted, but a more diverse, native based plant community generally gives the landscape a better chance of slowing extreme fire behavior and recovering afterward. “When you have more biodiversity, you usually have more options for how the ecosystem responds after a fire,” he explained. “It is not just one kind of plant carrying all the risk.”
You can already see the canyon making a strong come back. In the burn area, some of the laurel sumac looks dead at eye level, but if you look closer there are fresh shoots coming up from the base. The top growth took the hit. The roots hung on and are now pushing out a ton of new green thanks to the recent rain. “A lot of these shrubs are fire adapted,” Kinzel said. “The whole crown can burn, and as long as that root is still intact it is going to come back. The rain we have had is really helping kick that process into gear.”
The January fire and this year’s storms have also been a pretty harsh test for the hills above West Hollywood. Native plants are one of the few things working in our favor. Their roots grab the soil, give birds and insects a place to land, and cut back the thick layer of weeds that can turn into fuel the next time something sparks. “Those invasive weeds dry out and connect everything,” Kinzel said. “By getting more natives in and keeping the invasives down, we are trying to reduce that continuous blanket of fuel.”
Runyon is always gonna be the perfect location that draws influencers, hikers, tourists, trainers, and dogwalkers. On any given day you still get the usual mix trying to grab a pic of the Hollywood sign or downtown at sunset. What I liked about this event is that it broke that pattern for a minute. You could see the canyon as a community project with people giving back, not just taking — a selfie. “We want people to enjoy the park, but also to feel some ownership over its health,” Kinzel said. “That is why getting volunteers out here is such a big deal for us.”
If you want to plug in and join in, start with L.A. Parks Ecology on Instagram at @laparksecology. They post about upcoming habitat days at Runyon and other parks. Friends of Runyon Canyon also has a website and mailing list where you can sign up to hear about future volunteer mornings, everything from watering to weeding to tossing down fresh mulch. “This is hopefully one of many volunteer events we are doing at Runyon Canyon,” Kinzel said. “Once the plants are in, we still need folks to come back for maintenance, things like watering and more invasive removal.”
Fire season will come and go, and the weather will do what it does, but Runyon Canyon is still one of the best spots in LA to catch a sunset or a full moon rising. If the park or those views mean anything to you, spending a little time helping the hillside is not a bad way to pay it back, or, pay it forward.
