The wildfires that tore through Los Angeles this month devastated so many of our local communities, as well as some of our region’s most beloved wilderness areas in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mountains.

In the wake of this disaster, we’ve understandably received many questions about what restoration might look like in those ecosystems—and how people can get started helping them right away. 

The short answer is: the best thing you can do to help these burn scars right now is to avoid visiting them, and let nature begin to heal on its own. 

Before any restoration efforts begin, it’s always critical to observe how ecosystems are beginning to recover, so we can have a netter understanding of what restoration approach might be necessary.

These recent fires burned through a variety of different ecosystems. Some were more pristine chaparral and coastal sage scrub plant communities that may largely recover naturally, while others were disturbed ecosystems dominated by invasive plants that will likely require larger restoration efforts in the future.

For this reason, we generally wait at least eight months to two years before beginning restoration in a burn scar. Hiking or other recreational activities in these burn scars should also be avoided, as visitors may unintentionally disturb the soil, hinder regrowth, or spread invasive seeds that could outcompete native plants.

When your favorite trails do open, please stay on the designated trail at all times to avoid the freshly-burned soil.

However, we do want to stress that when the time is right, restoration will be a critical part of maintaining the health and safety of these wilderness areas and their surrounding communities. By making sure we have thriving, biodiverse, balanced ecosystems that are well-adapted to fire, we can help mitigate disasters on this scale in the future. 

In the coming months, we’ll keep you posted about any future restoration opportunities. For now, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer in some of our other burn scar recovery projects.

We’ve also compiled a page with more information about wildfire recovery and volunteer opportunities for immediate community relief.

While it may take a bit of time, we are confident that the land will heal, and so will our communities.