This Tree Stands

I went to visit my cousin’s former home in Pacific Palisades where they raised their three children, children who I babysat, over July 4 weekend. We of course braced ourselves for what we knew we were going to see, or not see, after the January 2025 fires. The house was gone, but the magnificent 200 year-old Sycamore tree in their front yard parkway still stood. It had green leaves. It was alive. We walked the property, prayed, remembered, cried, and looked up at that magnificent tree. Despite the devastation of property up and down the street, the tree was still there, as were others. They were telling us a story, one that needs to be heard right now as the city and the county grapple with how to manage our urban environment with the probability of future fires. Do we denude the landscape of everything living, in an attempt to protect man-made structures, or do we take advantage of nature’s ability to temper the wind, the embers - to stop, to protect. The tree stands. I’ve loved this particular tree all the years I would visit my cousin and her family, marveling at its branches, carefully managed by professional arborists. Despite damage by the January fire, it was still intact, clearly living, providing hope. It didn’t stop the house from burning down, but it is there to shade the new house that will be built, and perhaps protect it if another fire comes.

As a Naturalist, I love nature, especially trees. Professionally, as part of my work at the LMU Center For Urban Resilience, we spend a great deal of time thinking about the balance between humans and nature, how to get it and how to maintain it when something horrible happens. As the predictability of future fires occurs, you have to rethink what works and what doesn’t work. The trees are telling us an amazing survival story. Will we listen? I hope so. This tree stands.