The 1988 wildfires that drew the nation's attention to the world's first national park were considered simply part of the fire regime that historically has existed in Yellowstone National Park. But in the aftermath of the fires, "climate change" entered the country's lexicon and increasingly intense wildfires have forced the National Park Service in the West to both evaluate and refine its approach to battling flames that are arriving with greater and greater ferocity.

It’s been one mountain lion kitten den after another this summer for National Park Service biologists in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills. In total, 13 kittens were born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August 2020.

The mountain lion population in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area has grown by three, but more importantly, those three kittens could be carrying some much-needed genetic diversity.

A well-aged Valley Oak tree that had been looked upon as a "witness tree" at the Paramount Ranch in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will be cut down later this month, another victim of the Woolsey Fire that swept through the mountain range in November 2018.