Restoration of Fire-damaged Eaton Canyon Is Using Science and Lessons Learned from Past Fires

Wednesday Panel “Ashes to Action” at LA County Arboretum Described How Native Plants, Fire Ecology Plus Community Support Can Benefit Wildlife and People

ARCADIA, Calif. (March 26, 2026) — A panel of experts working on the long-term restoration of fire-damaged Eaton Canyon said science and lessons from prior wildfires can help ensure the resiliency of both the landscape, and eventually, a new nature center.

The January 2025 Eaton Fire devastated the Eaton Canyon Natural Area and Nature Center, one of the most popular outdoor destinations in Southern California. Since the firestorm, this beloved 198-acre natural preserve that draws one million plus visitors annually, has been closed.

The March 25 panelists at the free community discussion “Ashes to Action” at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden described the recovery of Eaton Canyon as an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine the nature preserve and the center. The panelists were from the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation (LA County Parks), Studio-MLA, SWCA Environmental Consultants and Theodore Payne Foundation.

About 130 people attended the free community event, and the evening was hosted by the Los Angeles County Arboretum Foundation.

The Eaton Canyon Natural Area and Nature Center, managed by LA County Parks, is also a Los Angeles County Significant Ecological Area (SEA) located just minutes from urban Pasadena, said LA County Parks Director Norma E. García González.

 “We are learning we do not have all the answers, and we are creating a space to learn from the experts,” said García González. “We want to reimagine a sense of place and restore ecologically this beautiful place where so many people grew up.”

Some of that expertise is in the archives of the Fire-Resistant Plant Project (FRPP) Collection created by the Los Angeles Arboretums Research Division, said panel moderator Su Oh, CEO of the LA County Arboretum and its Arboretum Foundation. Southern California wildfires in the 1950s and early 1960s prompted this research headed by Dr. Francis Ching in 1958. After the landmark 1961 Bel Air Fire, the project developed a leaflet of fire-resistant plants and distributed them to 200,000 residents as planting guidance.

This botanic knowledge continues with the role of native trees and shrubs in Eaton Canyon.

“If you plant natives, the animals will come,” said Tim Becker, Director of Horticulture at Theodore Payne Foundation. Eaton Canyon, he said, also offers an opportunity for families to experience ‘the wild’ and the 1,000 native plants the Foundation brought to the new Eaton Landscape Recovery Center will help children and their parents experience the canyon’s natural habitat.

Recalling the tragic night of the fire, when she rushed to the burning Eaton Canyon Nature Center, Kim Bosell, LA County Parks Regional Operations Manager said her 11 years of being stationed at the canyon, plus years of seeing other county Natural Areas burn has changed her views of how nature returns. “I believed that nature will heal itself,” Bosell said. “But in this case we are learning we can help.”

Working on Eaton Canyon’s restoration with the partners on the panel, Bosell said, “We are finding a way to help it come back better.”

Megan Horn, Principal at Studio-MLA said, “We don’t think of this as a place to design. It’s a system to design.”  Rebuilding the new nature center must incorporate a “hardened and defensible” design to resist fire, flooding, and wind, she said. The landscape must also incorporate the impacts of these elements, and it will be crucial to foster community stewardship of the land.

Understanding the cycle of fire ecology, will inform the canyon’s regeneration, added Marcus Goncalves, Senior Restoration Ecologist at SWCA Environmental Consultants. The Eaton Fire impacted much more than loss of trees and shrubs. “After fire there is loss of vegetation. Erosion issues will follow,” he said. This can trigger a chain of events, Goncalves said, where a riverbank may collapse, a hillside loses stabilization, and that crumbles into a river, raising it and reducing its flow and impacting water quality.

A second set of speakers will be featured at another Eaton Canyon panel discussion at the LA County Arboretum, April 8, 5 pm to 7 pm. Free admission by reservation at  LA Arboretum Ticketing Page.