“From ash: The Santa Monica Mountains Recovery”

A burnt truck sits abandoned at the entrance of Camp Josepho in the Pacific Palisades on June 4, 2025.Left behind as the Palisades fire advanced, the vehicle now stands as a charred reminder of the evacuation. (Jordan Brown | The Corsair)

Viktor Farago stands in a burned patch of land near Camp Josepho in the Pacific Palisades on June 4, 2025. The camp was leveled during the Palisades fire, a loss felt deeply by Farago, who frequently visits the Santa Monica Mountains. (Jordan Brown | The Corsair)

A “Closed” sign blocks access to Dirt Mulholland fire road in Tarzana, Calif., on June 4, 2025. The road remains closed to the public as it is currently used to transport equipment as part of ongoing recovery efforts following the Palisades fire. (Jordan Brown | The Corsair)

Burnt hillsides near the Reseda Blvd Trailhead in the San Fernando Valley, viewed from Temescal Canyon Road, on April 8, 2025. The road served as a key route for transporting equipment and marked one of the final fronts before the Palisades fire officially reached the San Fernando Valley. (Jordan Brown | The Corsair)

The remains of a building sit at the center of Camp Josepho in the Pacific Palisades on June 4, 2025. The camp was destroyed during the Palisades fire. (Jordan Brown | The Corsair)

Scorched washing machines sit in an abandoned shipping container at the center of Camp Josepho in the Palisades on June 4, 2025. (Jordan Brown | The Corsair)

The Santa Monica Mountains are healing. 

Five months after the Palisades Fire tore through the coastal foothills of Los Angeles, much of the Santa Monica Mountains remains closed to the public. The scars on the hillsides may still be visible, but beneath the charred brush and closed trails, recovery initiatives are taking shape. 

Hikers, bikers, and enthusiasts alike will once again be able to legally explore selected areas and trails, though the majority of the landscape remains restricted. 

For many who hold these mountains close, the transformation is already underway.

“The Santa Monica Mountains were a beautiful mountain range that was full of wildlife and wilderness,” said Viktor Farago, a San Fernando Valley local resident and frequent visitor to the range. “I remember riding up there after the fires and seeing the mass destruction of the mountains. There was ash on the floor and the trees, barely standing… It looked like something out of the horror movies.” 

In a statement from the National Park Service on their website, the agency noted that:

“A Department of the Interior (DOI) Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Team was deployed to the Palisades Fire on January 22, 2025. Team members included a hydrologist, recreation specialist, archeologist, botanist, wildlife biologist, GIS specialist, and a paleontologist,” with the primary goal being to “conduct rapid assessments to first identify values at risk and then prescribe emergency stabilization measures to protect those values.”

Still, the Santa Monica Mountains have long been a matchbox of fuel in Southern California’s fire-prone landscape. Through a combination of decades-long drought, accumulation of brush and invasive plants, and encroaching development near wildland, among other factors, the coastal foothills have become increasingly vulnerable to wildfires.

The Palisades Fire burned nearly 24,000 acres across the region, with nearly 20,000 acres impacted within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Driven by strong winds, with reported gusts exceeding 100 mph, the fire rapidly moved from south to southwest toward the Pacific Palisades, spreading quickly across the dense landscape. 

Through the aftermath, many community members voiced concerns over the state of the Santa Ynez Reservoir, which had remained empty for years. Some residents argue that it could have been used to help protect homes and slow the spread of the flames across the recreation area. 

In a statement provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) on their website, the agency explained:

“LADWP was required to take the Santa Ynez Reservoir out of service to meet safe drinking water regulations. To commission the support and resources to implement repairs to Santa Ynez, LADWP is subject to the city charter’s competitive bidding process which requires time.”

LADWP noted that the water system in Pacific Palisades and across Los Angeles already exceeds current federal and state fire codes. However, the agency acknowledged that these codes weren’t inherently designed to accommodate the growing severity of wildfire scenarios. 

“As we face the impacts of climate change and build climate resilience, we welcome a review and update of these codes and requirements if city water systems will be used to fight extreme wildfires. LADWP is initiating our own investigation about water resiliency and how we can enhance our posture to respond to the impacts of climate change.”

Although many trails remained closed, officials are working diligently to safely and responsibly reopen areas for public use. These ongoing recovery efforts are focused on habitat restoration, trail repair, and ensuring public safety. 

“BAER Team members met onsite with park partners multiple times to discuss post-fire issues and how to mitigate them on those properties. With such complex ownership boundaries, communication and collaboration is key to ensuring that life, property, and irreplaceable park resources are protected in the post-fire environment,” said the National Park Service.

For those who find peace in the Santa Monica Mountains, the message is clear. While recovery is never simple, the landscape’s quiet strength is a tribute to the power of nature, quietly making its own comeback, slowly healing the scars left by the flames.

“When the rain starts coming… all the little blades of grass start emerging… soon enough, it’s like the fires never even happened… nature always returns at the end no matter what,” Farago said.