A national park with Hollywood history destroyed by fire - before and after (image heavy, stunning)
A national park with Hollywood history destroyed by fire – before and after
Recent wildfires scorched 90% of the federally protected Santa Monica Mountains – destroying a 1950s Hollywood set and affecting biodiversity. But life is slowly coming back
by Gabrielle Canon, with photography by Dan Tuffs
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Main image: One of the great casualties of the Woolsey fire was the Santa Monica Mountains national recreation area. Photograph: Dan Tuffs/The Guardian
The fire came quickly. Fueled by dry, blustering winds, officials were unable to contain the Woolsey fire before it scorched the canyons of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, taking close to 97,000 acres and 1,500 properties with it. One of the great casualties was the Santa Monica Mountains national recreation area. Nearly 90% of the federally owned land burned in the November 2018 blaze. The park is home to popular hiking trails, a rich ecosystem of plant and wildlife, including mountain lions and coyotes, as well as famous spots such as the Paramount Ranch’s “Western Town” (a well-known Hollywood set location), the historic 1927 Peter Strauss Ranch house, a research field station and ranger residences. Nearly all of them burned to the ground. “We have a bunch of trails to repair and a bunch of debris to clear away and buildings to build,” says Kate Kuykendall, the acting deputy superintendent. “The damage to the park was very significant.”
Researchers believe it will be decades before the hills are fully restored. Still, after a series of winter storms, officials are hopeful to see the blackened moonscape beginning to come back to life. The destruction has threatened the future of the plants and animals who live here, as well as the scientists who study them. The park has long been a living laboratory for scientists used to better understand human impact and adopt conservation strategies. Mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats have been tracked over the course of 20 years, the endangered red-legged frog was brought back from the brink, and invasive plants were closely monitored and managed.
“We are still trying to understand how it impacted the wildlife here,” Kuykendall says. “Two of the mountain lions we were tracking died, either directly or indirectly as a result of the fire”, she added. One of them was the locally famed “Culvert Cat”, a young mountain lion who earned the nickname for using culverts (underground pipes) to cross local highways.
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Hollywood history lost
The recent government shutdown has caused delays, both for the scientists and recovery efforts across the park. Still, officials have promised that the structures and the trails leading to them will be rebuilt in the next two years, and hope to restore Paramount Ranch – and the sense of Hollywood history once housed in the hillsides. Tucked into the oaken savannah of the Santa Monica Mountains, Paramount Ranch provided a chance to peer inside the sets used for some of the most popular TV shows and movies, many of which were filmed there over the last several decades.
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/feb/14/national-park-hollywood-history-woolsey-fire-in-pictures
