THE CHANEY TRAIL CORRIDOR PROJECT

SCIENCE FOR CONSERVATION

Chaney Trail is a wildlife corridor and unique locus of biodiversity.

The Chaney Trail Corridor Project is a professional biological and community science, founded in response to the potential sale of the 78 acre Nuccio's property, surrounded by the wildland of the Angeles National Forest, the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Los Angeles County Significant Ecological Area. We seek to protect and conserve the land and natural resources, and provide support for wildlife and the community as we regenerate after the Eaton Fire.

Image of brush and foothills from Chaney Trail

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Chaney Trail Corridor is located on the ancestral and unceded land of the Gabrielino Tongva People. We are grateful for and honor their stewardship, and as guests, seek to protect the land and all that lives in the Corridor.

Protest song rendition by Mavis Staples. Stay safe out there this weekend. We are in this together.

It’s hell out there right now. Our hearts are breaking. This glowing Humboldt’s Lily just bloomed here in the Chaney Trail Corridor, so sending it on to you, and sending love.

We received some hate mail after posting a photo to our story of an ICE protest. We were also asked why a “nature organization” would be “political.” Like many nature and conservation organizations, we believe that all living things have a right to dignity and a safe environment. If immigrant communities are suffering due to unjust government actions, climate displacement, or persecution, standing with them is a matter of moral integrity.

Phacelia grandiflora after the Eaton Fire.

Sunny Mills in the Chaney Trail Corridor, from the trail cam. Sunny @sunshine_acid has been photographing Altadena using her 100+ year-old camera, taking tintypes of people who lost their homes and documenting what has become normal daily life out in the neighborhood. She knows the Chaney Trail Corridor well, she used to walk here every day.

We are both seeing the transformation of Altadena through our cameras, our unconventional and finicky cameras that have brought us connection to others and to one another and to ourselves in a time when it’s easy to feel lost, sometimes literally, in a place that has become unrecognizable, but is still home.

Happy Pride from the Chaney Trail Corridor

A Lazuli Bunting in the burned area of the Chaney Trail Corridor. These birds are “fire followers” and seek out recently burned areas, especially where low and shrubby vegetation has begun to regenerate. They are early successional species, meaning they often thrive in habitats recovering from disturbance, including wildfire. We have a sound recorder out in the Chaney Trail Corridor right now and in the last 24 hours it recorded 814 observations of Lazuli Bunting calls and songs!

Thank you to @wildlifeofcottonwood for the wonderful photo of the Lazuli in the burned area of the Chaney Trail Corridor.

Just in case a couple of chimney bees sleeping in a California Wild Rose growing in the burn area might brighten your day, here you go.

Just a little update on the California Buckeye on this Memorial Day. This stand of Buckeye (Aesculus californica) on Brown Mountain Truck Trail were burned in the fire, but mostly at the base. They all survived and are thriving.

The quail are all right! The Eaton Fire moved quickly across the Chaney Trail Corridor and as a result, we were not sure how the quail fared. Quail are strong runners, but they are not capable of sustained high altitude flight, only short, low, rapid flights. In high-intensity or fast-moving fires, like wind-driven wildfires in chaparral, quail are often unable to escape in time.

If the quail did survive the initial fire, we were not sure if habitat loss of dense shrub cover that they rely on for nesting, roosting and hiding from predators would make them exposed and vulnerable. Plus, we didn’t know if food reduction of their diet of seeds, leaves and insects would be too scarce in the burned landscape.

But the quail returned quickly to the Chaney Trail Corridor! Typically, if quail survive the initial fire, they tend to return to the edge of the burn area, sometimes within weeks, especially if food (seeds, insects) and cover begin regenerating. And that’s what happened.

Slide 1: California Quail in the Chaney Trail Corridor on 5/18/25 by @wildlifeofcottonwood

Slide 2: A nest in the Chaney Trail Corridor showing a hatched egg. We initially thought this was quail and now the leading hypothesis is Lazuli Bunting (also exciting!)

Slide 3: California Quail recordings in the Chaney Trail Corridor on 5/18/25

Slide 4: A California Quail couple walks by the trail cam on 5/21/25

(With thanks to the Pasadena Audubon Society @pasadenaaudubon for their grant supporting this work and to @birdweatherhq for their technical support.)

News on the coyote pups: There are 3 and they are thriving! Parents visit often, they are eating and they can be seen leaving the den to explore short distances.

The Eaton Fire burned the entire area where their den is located in the Chaney Trail Corridor. Their success is a testament to ecological resilience. Coyotes are often considered indicator species for the health of ecosystems. Their ability to reproduce and raise pups is evidence that the post-fire landscape is making a comeback.

Our hope is to share with you, via Instagram Stories, regular updates on the pups until they leave the den.

Big Brown Bat on Chaney Trail. Astute volunteers noticed this bat on the ground, it was crawling slowly. Some bats can’t take off from the ground easily or at all. It’s possible this little one was grounded after hitting an object or even after an encounter with an owl. We set out a baseball hat, the bat crawled in, then we set the hat up on an oak tree trunk and the bat crawled out. It quickly crawled up the trunk, using all 4 feet well, positioned itself head down, then it took off flying! And it flew well. It eventually flew into a dark cavity on the cliffside where it stayed and likely roosted.

We are fortunate to have expert volunteers and a bat biologist @nikkocurti @chumipaul to teach us. If you encounter a bat, please be careful as it could be sick or injured. It is best not to handle them as they can be wild carriers of rabies.

The story ended well for this Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus). Its presence after the Eaton Fire is also good news. Bats are sensitive to changes in habitat quality and food availability. Their persistence after a fire suggests that insect populations (their food source) are recovering and that the landscape is beginning to support wildlife again. Big Brown Bats are especially adaptable and often among the first bat species to reappear after wildfires. Their ability to roost in a wide range of structures (including buildings, bridges, rock crevices, and dead trees) allows them to persist even when natural habitats are disrupted.

Coyote pup update! It was a busy night for the coyote family. A discreetly placed new trail cam shows two pups and two parents last night on Chaney Trail. You can see the little ones coming in and out of a storm drain.

During pupping season (spring), female coyotes may use storm drains as safe places to birth and raise pups. Storm drains offer a hidden, quiet space away from human activity and provide shelter from weather and predators.

If you listen closely at the beginning, you will also hear a Poorwill calling (a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, the nightjars).

Coyote pup on Chaney Trail! Spotted in the evening yesterday, 5/11/2025, then again two were spotted together (couldn’t get a photo) last night in the same location. This is great news that springtime coyote denning/pup season is happening in the Chaney Trail Corridor after the Eaton Fire.

This pup appears to be 6-8 weeks old, born in April. At this age, they grow more active and playful and explore relatively close to the den. This one was romping around with its sibling.

The reproduction of coyotes and appearance of pups after a major wildfire can be a positive ecological indicator. It’s a sign of recovery. Coyote reproduction suggests the habitat is recovering enough to support prey species (like rodents, rabbits), water sources, and denning sites - all essential for raising young. Coyotes are adaptable mesopredators. Their ability to reproduce after fire reflects the resilience and rebuilding of the food web.

Also, observing young wildlife after this devastating fire is a hopeful sign of renewal, return and nature’s capacity to regenerate. We couldn’t wait to share it with you.

Many thanks to @terangaranch for supporting our efforts in wildlife education.

Happy Mother’s Day. Sending some bobcat kittens from before the Eaton Fire. 🤎

Night trail cam after the fire from the Chaney Trail Corridor.

In order of the slides, these were taken 4/13/25, 4/25/25, 4/11/24, 4/2/25, 5/9/25, all in the burned area of the Chaney Trail Corridor, Altadena, California.

Hope you enjoy these moments of nature’s return.

A grey fox has returned to the Chaney Trail Corridor! This trail cam video was captured at 3:10AM this morning, 5/3/2025, this is our first grey fox on the trail cams since the Eaton Fire. Grey foxes sometimes appeared on the cameras before the fire; the second clip is of a grey fox before the fire on 10/18/2024 in an area close to where the fox was seen this morning.

A study of grey foxes in the Arizona chaparral following a fire showed an immediate decline in population likely due to the loss of cover and other resources necessary for their survival. However, over time, the grey fox population recovered and returned to pre-burn levels after 30 months. It has been almost 4 months since the Eaton Fire, and it is beautiful to see this fox in the Corridor!

Reference: Cunningham, Stan C., LariBeth Kirkendall, and Warren Ballard. “Gray fox and coyote abundance and diet responses after a wildfire in central Arizona.” Western North American Naturalist (2006): 169-180.

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it
go,
to let it go.

-Mary Oliver, In Blackwater Woods, 1983

Thank you Pasadena Audubon Society for awarding us a research grant. We will study bird and bat populations in the Chaney Trail Corridor pre and post Eaton Fire. Bat biologist @nikkocurti and wildlife biologist @carlymartenson16 will lead the effort and guide students and volunteer community scientists.

The Chaney Trail Corridor is an eBird Hotspot, so we have data from birding as well as 41,271 sound recordings of birds before the fire. We plan to use these same techniques, plus others, to measure bird activity after the fire.

This effort is to save the land as open space. Biological data - particularly wildlife presence, species diversity, and habitat quality - serve as concrete, scientific evidence of a land parcel’s ecological value. Including these data in grant applications strengthens the case for conservation funding.

Thanks to @wildlifeofcottonwood for the bird photos, all taken in the Chaney Trail Corridor after the fire. The last slide is from testing the equipment on 4/8/25, showing several species present!

It’s Earth Day. And we will persist. The mountain lions are back in the Chaney Trail Corridor, plants are reemerging, and we have not forgotten our mission to protect this land as natural, open space.

We are grateful for the guidance and partnership of the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians @sgbmigt and for our volunteers, and for all of you who care about this place and its inhabitants.

We are also thankful to Denis Callet @deniscallet for his mentorship in camera trapping, including camera placement. This image, taken before the fire on 10/23/24, is from a 23-minute session in which the mountain lion lay in front of the camera and groomed, resulting in dozens of photos and videos—important documentation of the value of this place as a wildlife corridor.

This Earth Day is a heavy one. The effects of the fire are still profound, our forests are under duress, and the funding and functioning of so much that is important is at risk. But we will persist, like the lions.

Not dead! A month ago, this Coast Live Oak on Chaney Trail was marked for removal by survey/tree removal contractors of the Army Corps of Engineers. Then, a week ago, the contractors came back and removed their markings and said, “we are delisting” this tree and some others. Our hearts sang as this tree is very much alive.

We are not sure if the delisting was the result of our advocacy (trained by the good folks @altadena_green ) or a revisit by an astute contracting arborist, or luck or something else, but we are so grateful. And we are continuing to keep a close eye on the trees.

Immediately after the fire, coyotes were abundant in the Chaney Trail Corridor, and that has not changed. Are they the same resident coyotes, now more visible due to the barren landscape, or are they newcomers seeking refuge, travelling in from more residential areas of the fire? Both are possible. There is at least one coyote with an unusual coat who is still present in the Corridor and comes on the trail cams in the same areas as before. The biological literature suggests coyotes can do well after wildfire, which may improve their foraging habitat and prey base. They are often found in forest openings where trees and vegetation have burned and where there is easier capture of prey. In the case of the Chaney Trail Corridor, that prey includes ground squirrels and rabbits. Studies indicate that small mammals increase rapidly after burning in response to vegetation regrowth. All the more food for the coyotes. One study done in Arizona after a catastrophic fire notes changes in the gray fox population (which took 30 months to recover), but coyote indices did not change, they did not decline and they did not grow; they held steady. Seems about right.

Some references:

Cunningham, S. C., Kirkendall, L., & Ballard, W. (2006). Gray fox and coyote abundance and diet responses after a wildfire in central Arizona. Western North American Naturalist, 169-180.

National Park Service, Environmental Assessment for the Olympic National Park Fire Management Plan. Appendix E: Information about Fire Effects on Specific Wildlife Species Olympic National Park, 2003.

We are grateful to Erin Stone @erin_stone_ , LAist Climate and Environment reporter, for sharing this story. That’s a mountain lion on the Chaney Trail cam! Our wish is that this brings hope. To read and listen to the full story, go to @chaney.trail.corridor bio linktree.

We are grateful to be mentioned in UCLA’s Newsroom @uclanews today (link to full story in bio linkree).

Pasadena City College biology professor and students joined us for a special visit to Chaney Trail to collect soil samples post-fire for testing and research. @women_forage_socal shared her mycology wisdom, we made iNaturalist observations and we picked up some trash too. Thanks so much to everyone who cares about this special place.

@aris_lant3rn @ethankalani @dr.daisyrosasv @killerhair1 @ktrdrgz @hikingmatty @christine.vargas @biologyclubpcc

We have a report-back on Spring! Plants are popping! There is resprouting, including crown sprouting, which often occurs after fire; it is regrowth at the base, the plant’s way of bouncing back using energy stored in the roots or crown. It’s definitely a comeback move, and it’s all over the Chaney Trail Corridor right now.

Many thanks to Gabi and Cliff and the amazing folks at California Native Plant Society and iNaturalist for many of these images.

The Chaney Trail volunteers joined up again with Caltech @parker.lab and @nurbsants this week to search for ant queens, check on the colonies and document nocturnal insects post-fire. We are working on picking up our iNaturalist observations in an attempt to document what has changed. Many thanks to the Parker Lab scientists for teaching us so much; we are once again in awe of our mighty centuries old Coast Live Oak trees that have largely survived the fire and are home to ant colonies as old as the trees themselves.

@laursoutdoors
@dr.daisyrosasv
@chiemi_art
@leosfieldnotes
@ethankalani
@wilhamgram

The California Newt (Taricha torosa) is a resident of Millard Canyon, usually visible and numerous from November to April - we have not seen a single one - until this morning! This is the end of their breeding season. This one must have migrated from a protected hiding spot to the stream to breed. What a relief to see this survivor!

Trail Cam Update from the Chaney Trail Corridor!

Video from 3/8/25. The area is closed, this is shared with love by a permitted resident.

Just some rainy day trail cam for you from the Chaney Trail Corridor. xoxo

Report today from Millard Canyon, the deer are doing well! They are serene with the lack of activity. One was laying down on the ground resting and got up to have a look (in the video). A mama deer and fawn have been in the Canyon since the fire, they were also out today in the rain. Mom has an injured right front leg, but is still going strong, climbing steep slopes and munching. It is very helpful that they have this quiet time to recover.

The fawn and Mom are always together. Fawns typically stay with their mothers for about one year. They are born in late spring or early summer and by the time they are about 3 to 4 months old, they start eating more vegetation and become more independent, but they still stay close to their mothers. This one was snacking heartily today!

[The Canyon remains closed until the end of 2025, these were taken by a careful and quiet permitted human resident.]

The Bat Team got together with our supervising bat biologist, Dr. Joey Curti @nikkocurti to check on the bats post fire and install a new and improved detector by @titleyscientific

We are excited to be working with Cal Poly Pomona students who are working hard to interpret our pre-fire bat data so we can compare it to what we find post-fire.

Thank you so much to our dedicated volunteers who helped and who have stuck together through everything: @kcplantsaltadena @dr.daisyrosasv @chiemi_art @wildlifeofcottonwood

It is hard to see the landscape changed, but it is still beautiful and awe inspiring and we are committed to protecting it and all that continues to live and re-grow in this special place.

Life continues. After the fire and the mudslides, the landscape of the Chaney Trail Corridor has been profoundly transformed. It can be disorienting, but when we located one of the burned camera metal stands, we put a new one right next to it. The fire changed the terrain, but the animals persist, including the owls and deer who were regulars at this camera. One thing that is beautiful to see is how long they stay in the frame now, they seem almost relaxed in the barren landscape alone, without people and dogs on the trail. A deer rested in front of the camera for hours this week. These are all new trail cam photos from the last few days, except the last, which is the same frame/perspective from 7/17/2024.

The Chaney Trail Corridor Project is helping out the antkeepers at Caltech’s Parker Lab who have been studying the ant colonies in the Chaney Trail Corridor for 8 years. The native trees, especially the old Coast Live Oaks of Millard, are home to native ant species such as Liometopum occidentale and Camponotus quercicola. The lab has observed colonies in 15 trees over time, and after the fire, we were not sure if they would still be there, but after the fire, every colony was present except for two. Observing these survivors (the trees and the ants) has been awe-inspiring, and observing the Caltech team see their ants thriving has been heart-warming. By day and by night (when the queens fly), we will continue to assist this wonderful effort.

@nurbsants @parker.lab

#savepubicland #protectourparks
This post is in support of a larger movement led by @resistancerangers to save our public lands.
The flag was up for a few minutes then removed during camera check. We left no trace. Rangers at Yellowstone hung the inverted flag, historically used as a sign of distress, to call attention to cuts to the National Park Service.

California buckeye (Aesculus californica), after the fire. There is a stand of buckeyes just off of Brown Mountain Truck Trail that were windblown and covered in Phos-Chek after the fire, and then this week, this happened. For our Eaton Canyon comrades, this is the same tree planted near the front of the nature center. Some say the Buckeye isn’t found in our region, but this stand of trees in the Chaney Trail Corridor has been there a very long time. Some experts from the California Native Plant Society San Gabriel Mountains Chapter think the tree may have been brought in long ago by indigenous people to catch fish in the Millard stream. The buckeye nuts or hulls can be ground into a powder that can be thrown into pools in the stream to stun fish. And, yes, there used to be fish in the Millard stream! We know some folks still around who fished Millard and we have historical records of fish in our beloved stream. Maybe we can thank the birds for bringing in the buckeye here. Whatever the case may be, the Buckeye’s leaves are dazzling to see emerge and we can’t wait to share its blooms with you in a few months.

We think much of the work over the last couple of weeks by Army Corps contractors who have marked and cutdown trees after the fire has been invalid, because many of these trees are now budding and blooming. These trees mean the world to us and we will keep fighting for them.

The Chaney Trail Corridor Project is honored to receive an award from @rosefdn - The Rose Foundation’s California Wildlands Grassroots Fund. This grant will allow us to continue our work to conserve and protect the Corridor and its inhabitants. We are grateful to the Rose Foundation for the support and recognition of our work, especially after the Eaton Fire, when recovery and preservation are more important than ever.

A bobcat at 02:12AM this morning in the burned area of the Chaney Trail Corridor. This bobcat appears to be healthy and uninjured. We know from @pasadenahumane that there was an influx of injured bobcats after the fire so it is a joy and relief to see this one roaming. This is a place where we hiked many times, hosted nature walks and collected bat and inaturalist data. Perhaps this is the same bobcat we caught on our cameras that burned up on the trail, they were only about 100 yards away from where this shot was taken.

Second camera is up. 2/18/2025. After the fire and slides.

Let's protect our preservable trees! In the fire debris clean-up effort, the Army Corps of Engineers and their contractors plan to remove hazardous trees in the debris removal phase. There are questions about the standards being used by these contractors. Several species, such as our beloved native trees - Coast Live Oak and Sycamore included -can take quite a bit of scorch damage and recover. Many local arborists are deeply concerned that trees which might otherwise recover are being marked for removal. The collective loss in canopy cover, shade, wildlife habitat and other benefits would be staggering if all the marked trees were removed.

Included here are some photos of blue paint tree markings on a property that opted-in for debris removal. The white paint markings are from the EPA and do not indicate removal, they are cautionary markings for staff safety when they enter a site. An orange ribbon is placed on each medium-risk tree along with a plate with a bar code circled in blue paint at the base of the tree. An additional blue dot means it is marked for removal. They will also geo-locate each tree that has been marked for removal.

If you have a tree that has been marked and you wish to keep the tree, you can post a sign requesting that the tree not be removed. You can also contact the
Army Corp of Engineers with the SKU to request that the tree(s) be retained: (213) 308-8305 or SoCalWildfires@usace.army.mil

Visit our Bio Linktree to download a sample "Tree Retention Notice" you can post on your tree(s), also see the "Altadena Homeowners Post-Fire Tree Guide" written by local arborist Rebecca Latta @rebeccalattaconsulting who is leading the effort to protect our trees. More info. available at www.altadenagreen.org/resources

A camera is back up. Remnants of the old ones found. Starting again. These are not very good photos, but they mean a lot because this coyote passed by minutes after the camera was turned on. Big thanks to @deniscallet for the encouragement to get back out there and to @filofilms for explaining what it means to see the trail cam photos. And to @goodneighboraltadena for a place to be together and have these conversations about the place we love.

[The corresponding trail cam video and cam set-up are in our story today and will be archived in our highlights under “Trail Cams” and “Cool Stuff”]

Erythranthe cardinalis (Scarlet Monkeyflower) with the arrow in the heart pointing to Phos-Chek. We love you.

Emerging: Malosma laurina (Laurel Sumac)

We have resumed the Chaney Trail Bat Survey now with the wonderful help of Joey Curti, Ph.D. @nikkocurti - Over the weekend, our small team went to the Chaney Trail Corridor and took in all of the changes and turned on the detector. The fire has been devastating, but we are in now in a unique position to understand how the population of bats in the Corridor has changed pre and post wildfire.

Dr. Curti is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Tingley Lab & Blakey Lab, La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He has kindly jumped right in to meet with and guide our team.

We will continue to send updates as we re-launch our efforts.

Here we go!

We will be sending dispatches from the Chaney Trail Corridor to let you know how things are. This is our way of sending love to you on the place you love. It is still there, resting. The birds and the wildlife are coming out in the quiet.

Chaney Trail and Millard are closed to the public until the end of the year, until December 31, 2025 (link to the US Forest Service announcement in our bio linktree). The place where so many of us have gone to recover itself needs to recover.

We will share progress with you. We are fortunate to have members who are permitted to access the Corridor who can report back. And we are working on a plan to continue our bat study and monitor the wildlife and regrowth and will keep you updated as we go.

Much Love,
-The Chaney Trail Corridor Project

[Photo of the lower Millard parking lot taken on January 29, 2025]

Much needed rain and snow on the mountains, January 26, 7:00 AM. (Chaney Trail, bottom left in photo 1.)

Chaney Trail and the Altadena Crest Trail are temporarily closed, including Millard Canyon and Sunset Ridge. The gates are closed to foot and car traffic. The Forest Service, Cal Fire, County Fire, Public Works, Conservation Corps and others are doing some great work up there, and the forest and chaparral are getting some much-needed rest after the fire.

Visit parks.lacounty.gov and trails.lacounty.gov for more information.

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WHO WE ARE

The Chaney Trail Corridor Project is supported by a generous grant from the Rose Foundation's California Wildlands Grassroots Fund

ADVISORY BOARD

Kristen Ochoa

Shana Pallotta

Terry Hair

Dana Stangel

Tina Shaw

CONSULTING SCIENTISTS

Daniel S. Cooper, Ph.D.

Senior Conservation Biologist

Joey Curti, Ph.D.

Bat Biologist

The Chaney Trail Corridor Project is a not-for-profit association organized under California Corporations Code Section 18035