Arbor Day: How Los Angeles is replanting trees after devastating wildfires
As a procession of construction trucks drives through the blackened streets of Los Angeles County's Altadena neighborhood, the first signs of natural regrowth can be seen in sidewalk planters.
The Eaton Fire, which erupted on Jan. 7, burned over 14,000 acres, killed at least 18 people and destroyed over 9,400 buildings -- becoming the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive wildfire in California history.
Nearly four months after the blaze, just as contractors begin working to rebuild homes and businesses, arborists, city planners and local organizations are preparing to restore the natural landscape as well.
From the emotional toll of losing almost everything to the financial burden of starting over, ABC News is chronicling the journeys of a few affected Los Angeles residents over the next several months as they try to rebuild from the ashes of the Los Angeles fires.
Altadena resident and nonprofit founder Claire Robinson has dedicated her life to making Los Angeles County more beautiful.
For 22 years, Robinson and her organization, Amigos de los Rios, have advocated for more urban parks, turning schools into designated green spaces and working with community leaders to create living infrastructure.
MORE: LA fires aftermath: How people are rebuilding after losing almost everything
But in the wake of the Eaton Fire, Robinson not only lost her family home and organization's office, but also "100 lifetimes" of her work.
"You feel pretty humbled working every day to try to green our cities, and then finding this amount of devastation in such a short period. ... It's daunting," Robinson told ABC News.
Official tree surveying is ongoing, but Robinson said roughly half of Altadena's tree canopy appeared to be affected in the wildfire, though she's confident some of the centuries-old trees will spring back from the external char.
Interestingly, many of Altadena's towering deodar cedar trees not only survived the fire, but in some cases protected homes from the wind-whipped embers, according to Robinson.
These fast-growing evergreen conifer trees are native to the Himalayas and Afghanistan but can be seen in abundance on Altadena's beloved Christmas Tree Lane and throughout the neighborhood.
Deodar cedars and other tree species, including oaks, pines and palm trees, proved more likely to survive the wildfires because of natural adaptations: thick bark, high moisture content, height and deep root systems allowed them to endure over other vegetation, according to the National Forest Foundation.
Alternatively, many non-native tree species such as eucalyptus -- especially the invasive Tasmanian blue gum -- are known for their high oil content, making them highly flammable, according to the organization.
Other common fire-prone trees include cypress, firs, junipers and spruces, according to the National Forest Foundation.
Aerial photos taken in the wake of the Eaton Fire prove this to be true -- some plants and trees are fire-resistant, while others are fire-prone. Local leaders have the opportunity to use this information when replanting after the fire, according to Robinson.
"Arborists are scouring right now to read the post-fire landscape and see which of those species, like the coast live oaks or the sycamores, really held their ground, and how we should extract knowledge from the vegetation's relationship to structures and rethink how we want to rebuild from the direct empirical experience of the fire," Robinson said.
Dan Lambe, the chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation, told ABC News this year's holiday is especially important in the wake of the wildfires and other recent climate disasters.
"There's never been a more important time for trees, and on this Arbor Day in 2025 we're reminded of that as we look at the fires throughout Southern California, the hurricanes throughout North Carolina and Florida and the increasing frequency and severity of storms that are downing and destroying critical tree canopy," Lambe said.
MORE: Arbor Day 2024: How to plant the best tree to combat climate change
Planting trees in honor of Arbor Day dates back to 1872, and while climate and landscape factors have changed since the holiday's inception, the motivation remains crucial.
"This Arbor Day is a great chance to celebrate the value of trees and help restore and bring hope and healing back through planting," Lambe said.
"As we work with communities to help with disaster recovery, we work with them to make sure we are planting the right trees in the right place, mostly planting native trees so that they survive and thrive for years and years to come," he added.
Despite the personal and professional losses, Robinson and her Amigos de los Rios team have begun to plant "seeds of hope" in Altadena's civic spaces.
Altadena's Triangle Park, a small green plaza marked by the local sheriff's station, a transit bus stop and a church, saw the first replanting and signs of vitality after the Eaton Fire.
"It's amazing the power of nature, just the little work we did in front of the sheriff's station, replanting 90 native plants, and they are taking hold," Robinson said.
"It's spring, right? It's the most powerful time of the year for rebirth. So we are very confident that nature is going to surprise us in just as magical a way as we were horrified the night of the fires," she added.
Arbor Day: How Los Angeles is replanting trees after devastating wildfires originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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