The Los Angeles Chapter's first chapter meeting of the year was just a few weeks ago in late March, postponed by the devastating and unprecedented firestorms in January. The gathering was a much-needed time to connect with our community, reflect on present challenges, and hold space for important conversations about the fires' still unfolding impacts on the coast. We are incredibly grateful to Parks Project for hosting us at their community event space and shop in Culver City.
While we had initially planned to have this early spring meeting focus on Ocean Friendly Gardens, it became an opportunity to expand on how our urban and suburban landscapes can build resilience in the face of climate change and climate-fueled firestorms. We can work together to create a greener, hydrated, resilient watershed that is better prepared for our rapidly changing future, protecting the ocean instead of polluting it.
We kicked off the meeting with a DIY seed packet craft, where chapter members and attendees could write a positive note on their new seed packet and fill it with native wildflower and plant seeds. Everyone got to take home a seed packet to spread in their yard or neighborhood, a first step to building familiarity and connection with native plants and their benefits for the watershed.
After the fires, the toxic ash that collected on all of the hard surfaces across the city posed a massive runoff pollution problem. Incoming rain storms threatened to flush most of it to storm drains that flow directly out to the ocean. The city and county acted quickly to redirect most of these flows and put temporary filters over storm drains, but this problem clearly demonstrated how our system defaults to sending runoff pollution into our waterways unfiltered.
Ocean Friendly Gardens help offset this pollution problem using nature-based solutions like bioswales, rain gardens, and native plants to soak up runoff and filter pollution, storing it in soil and plants instead of sending it out into waterways.
But you won't just hear it from us! We brought in 3 expert panelists who were incredible resources about fire ecology, community fire safety, native plants, water harvesting, and permaculture to talk about reflections, questions, and next steps for our community.
Our panelists discussed their reflections following the events of the fire, how they were personally impacted, and what changes they want to see in the systems around us.
We acknowledged that there is a lot of urgency and a strong desire for community members to spring into action, but our affected wildlands will need time and space to heal. While well-intentioned, it's not a good idea to go out and spread seeds or pull weeds in the burn zones. For people looking for an outlet for their energy, the panelists recommended hardening your home, advocating for better building materials to be used in new construction, and spending time fostering community connection and supporting mutual aid efforts.
We discussed how the recent firestorms are connected to climate change, invasive species, and the loss of cultural burn practices and biodiversity that helped manage fuels in the landscapes. We can all do our part to help remove invasive species from our homes and public spaces, and replace them with fire-resilient native plants. How and where we build homes also affects fire risk, and we have increasingly built into urban-wildland interfaces that put us at greater risk.
Climate change is resulting in more extreme and inconsistent weather, with longer periods of drought and drier, hotter conditions. We can help naturally rehydrate our watershed with nature based solutions like bioswales and rain gardens and water harvesting devices like rain barrels and cisterns. Hydrated landscapes are less likely to ignite, and naturally help offset the urban heat island effect.
It was a night of connection, learning, laughing, and opening up to discuss complex and layered issues that can seem overwhelming at times. Thank you to our panelists for their thoughtful responses, unique perspectives, and for being awesome people who are doing impactful work.
Come hang out with us at an upcoming event, become a member, or take action in your own landscape!