The coast live oak is perhaps the most emblematic tree species in the Southern California region, holding historical importance as a key food source for indigenous populations and lending its name to neighborhoods and cities such as Los Angeles County's Sherman Oaks and Ventura County's Thousand Oaks. In addition to this, the species holds a keystone role for local ecosystems, with oak woodlands holding the highest level of biodiversity of any habitat in the state according to the National Park Service.

More recently, there has been growing acknowledgement of the potential benefit of oak trees in resisting increasingly destructive wildfires in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). For example, research from the US Forest Service has shown that coast live oaks are resilient in the face of fire, surviving at unprecedented rates after the 1993 Old Topanga Fire, while accounts from other wildfires suggest that oak trees can act as effective fuel breaks during conflagrations. 

Given the fact that oak tree species, like the coast live oak, are already protected by environmental laws in California, including LA County municipal codes, expansion of current oak populations in fire vulnerable places such as Altadena could be a key way to build a more fire-resilient region.

Where in LA County should we prioritize coast live oak plantings? This site walks through the analyses we conducted to answer that question. 

It will be important to plant coast live oaks in Altadena's green belt areas, especially at the border of the Angeles National Forest: the fire started there, it has abundant open space, and these oak trees could act as a fire break in the future. 

But beyond this obvious location, we want to prioritize coast live oak plantings in the census tracts in Altadena's southwest corner, which our analysis identified as especially in need of oak trees. Here are some of our recommendations. 

• More oaks should be planted in green belt areas, especially areas closer to the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. This is where they were previously abundant (before the Eaton fire) and where they could most enhance the area's fire resilience.

• Oak trees should be planted at the intersection of Lincoln Ave and West Altadena Dr, in the area surrounding Charles White Park, and in the blocks directly east of the Super King Market on Lincoln Ave. 

• Community members should be involved in the plantings so as to cultivate stewardship of this critical species and the ecosystems it supports.