The Santa Clarita Placerita Canyon Nature Center has endured much fire damage over the years and has highlighted the regrowth of their previously burnt vegetation and the continuation of their nature center.
The Placerita Canyon Nature Center in Newhall is open to the public and proud to continue educating the Santa Clarita community on the appreciation of nature amidst years of battling brush fires in surrounding areas that have placed the park in danger.
“We offer a complete exposure to nature for people in a local area here,” said Jim Crowley, Nature Center volunteer. “We offer hiking, we’ve got displays inside, live animals we show, we also have programs for elementary schools where they bus them out here, expose the kids to nature, explain ecology and the history of the place; it’s a very intriguing and interesting park,”
The Placerita Canyon Nature Center’s rough history with wildfires include:
- Foothill Fire, 2004, which started in the Newhall pass by a hawk which landed on a powerline, was electrocuted, and hit the ground starting the fire. The Foothill Fire scorched the entire hillside of the park, burning all the vegetation.
- Sand Fire, 2016, which burned down a lot of terrain, leaving a majority of the area in ashes. Remnants of a deer were found, and vegetation around the Center’s building was forced to be cut down by Fire officials to avoid the spread.
- Placerita Fire, 2017, which jumped the fence and burned all the way down to the sidewalk, burning such vegetation as sugarbush, toyon, and buckwheat.
“You can tell where a fire has occurred recently or in the past by the amount of growth that has come back since that initial fire, it will come back eventually, but you can see where a fire happened simply by the height of the altitude of the vegetation,” said Frank Hoffman, also known as Ranger Frank, Nature Center supervisor.
The trees in Placerita are still showing fire scars, but are adapting to the environment to continue growing, officials said.
“Some seeds in nature require a fire. Fire is a natural thing in a lot of cases, so there is a regrowth in nature,” Crowley concluded.
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