UP @ Coldwater Canyon Park

January 25, 2017

When was the last time you took a walk through nature to restore balance and reconnect with your purpose in life?

TreePeople’s 45-acre Coldwater Canyon Park perched atop the Santa Monica Mountains offers trails and breathtaking panoramas the San Fernando Valley and beyond to the Verdugo Mountains that cradle it. Thousands of people walk our park every year, and it is the pride and joy of our organization.

We’ve been the caretakers of this living laboratory for more than 40 years. But we’ve seen a shift during the drought years thanks to climate change with massive die-off and pests plaguing our cherished park trees.

Even though we’ve seen some rainfall in LA in the past few weeks, our park is still suffering the effects of prolonged drought. Just last week we had to cut down one of our own Torrey Pines– another victim of bark beetle infestation.

Each storm has its silver lining– like having our cistern full for the first time since before the drought years! More than 180,000 of our 216,000-gallon cistern has been filled from this season’s rains alone. We can hear our trees sing their thanks! We’ll be more prepared now to irrigate the park hilltop when our hot, dry summer comes back with a vengeance.

Coldwater Canyon Park is a city treasure that offers a refuge for everyone, but it can’t be kept up without the help of volunteers and donors.

Inspired? Help us raise funds to help keep the park beautiful in the face of climate change! For more information on hosting a donor event, contact development@treepeople.org.

Want to dig in? Join us for a Park Beautification Day!

By Caitlin Dunham

After graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Forestry and Natural Resource Management, Caitlin discovered a passion for working in social media and marketing and eventually found her way to TreePeople. With her unique forestry and marketing background, Caitlin is now growing and thriving within TreePeople’s Yurt Village. She loves that she can bridge the gap between science and marketing and is at the frontlines of educating Angelenos on trees and how they can save LA.