Restoration ICU

Restoring the Past, Sustaining the Future

Community Recovery and Resilience

Southern California

Post-Fire Restoration Watch Stations

A Public Window Into How Burned Landscapes Heal
Wildfires reshape the land long after the flames are gone.
Soils become hydrophobic, vegetation disappears, runoff accelerates, wildlife scatters, and entire neighborhoods wait months or years to rebuild.

Post-Fire Restoration Watch Stations, created by Restoration.ICU, offer a way for the public to safely witness this recovery while generating valuable scientific data for agencies, researchers, and local communities.

Each Watch Station is a small, publicly accessible location—carefully chosen with residents and land managers—where visitors can document the restoration process without entering private, fire-impacted neighborhoods.
Chronolog hero

What Is a Restoration Watch Station?

A Watch Station is a designated viewing point featuring a Chronolog, a simple platform that aligns every visitor's camera in the same position. Each photo uploaded builds a time-lapse record of recovery, captured by the community.

These stations serve as:
  • Open-air exhibits showing how burned land changes week by week
  • Science tools documenting soil, vegetation, and wildlife return
  • Educational spaces for visitors, students, and families
  • Respectful gathering points that protect the privacy of rebuilding neighborhoods

What the Watch Stations Document

1. Soil Recovery After Fire

Fire-damaged soils become water-repellent, unstable, and prone to erosion. The time-lapse documents:
 
  • Breakdown of hydrophobic soil
  • Mulch and biochar effectiveness
  • Slope stabilization
  • Dust and ash reduction after wind events
  • Early microbial and organic matter return

2. Rainfall, Runoff, and Erosion

Storms dramatically change fire-scarred land. Chronolog images capture:
 
  • Where water pools or flows
  • Formation of rills and channels
  • Sediment movement
  • Performance of erosion control measures (wattles, logs, mulch)
  • Seasonal differences across storms

3. Vegetation Regrowth

From bare ash to the return of green, Watch Stations provide a visual record of:
 
  • First pioneering plants and wildflowers
  • Native vs. invasive species patterns
  • Shrub and tree resprouting
  • Community planting efforts
  • Impacts of soil amendments on establishment

4. Wildlife Return

Burned landscapes often see surprising waves of returning wildlife:
 
  • Birds exploring new perches
  • Insects and pollinators
  • Small mammals and reptiles
  • Seasonal behaviors and activity patterns

5. Community Recovery and Re-Greening

These stations also track how quickly:
 
  • Neighborhoods replant
  • Trees and gardens return
  • Restorative landscaping reshapes the space
  • Green cover reduces dust and erosion

This creates a shared visual record of hope, resilience, and renewal.

Why Watch Stations Matter

A Safe Way to Visit Burned Areas

Visitors and well-wishers can learn about post-fire landscapes without adding traffic or disturbance to neighborhoods still rebuilding.

A Public Record of Healing

Every photo contributes to a collective time-lapse showing what recovery actually looks like in the months and years after wildfire.

Useful Data for Scientists and Agencies

Watch Stations help:
 
  • Watershed managers monitor erosion
  • Native plant groups track succession
  • Fire Safe Councils study treatment effectiveness
  • Wildlife organizations assess habitat return
  • Public Works and researchers calibrate models of stormwater response

Support for Community Resilience

Watch Stations spotlight community-driven re-greening and offer a hopeful focal point after trauma.

Who We Work With

Restoration.ICU seeks to collaborate with:
 
  • Local residents and neighborhood councils
  • Fire Safe Councils
  • Theodore Payne Foundation
  • California Native Plant Society
  • TreePeople
  • Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy
  • Arroyo Seco Foundation
  • LA County Public Works
  • Environmental and watershed researchers
  • Schools, volunteer groups, and nonprofits

Help Us Create Eaton Fire Restoration Watch Stations

We are ready to launch Post-Fire Restoration Watch Stations in Altadena, CA, but we need your help to make them happen.

These stations can only be installed in communities that welcome them.

That’s why we’re inviting residents, local groups, and supporters to help identify the right places and build the partnerships needed to bring this vision to life.
Get Involved

A New Kind of Restoration

Post-Fire Restoration Watch Stations combine science, community, and compassion to document how life returns after fire. They turn empty lots, slopes, and burned landmarks into places of learning and hope--offering something powerful to every visitor:
 
  • A chance to see restoration happen.
  • A chance to support it.
  • A chance to be part of the healing.

Palisades Fire

The Palisades Fire, which ignited on January 7, 2025, caused extensive damage across several communities in Los Angeles County. The primary areas affected include Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Topanga.

In addition to these areas, the Palisades Fire impacted various landmarks and institutions, including Will Rogers State Historic Park and Topanga Ranch Motel, a historic site that was planned for restoration but was lost to the flames.

Housing Resources in Response to Fires (City of Santa Monica)
Support Local Businesses (City of Santa Monica)
Malibu Updates (City of Malibu)

 
Report Disaster-Related Fraud

If you suspect fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement related to natural or man-made disasters, you can file a complaint with the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF). Their portal handles reports of:

 
  • Criminal activity related to disasters and emergencies
  • Medical supply hoarding and price gouging
  • Fraud involving federal disaster assistance programs
  • COVID-19 related criminal conduct

Visit the NCDF Disaster Complaint Form to report suspicious activity or learn where to direct specific types of fraud complaints.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

Eaton Fire

The Eaton Fire, which ignited on January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon, caused extensive damage in several communities within Los Angeles County. The most severely affected areas include Altadena and Pasadena.

Essential Resources for Housing Recovery After Eaton Fire (City of Pasadena)
Eaton Fire Resource Guide (City of South Pasadena)
Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy
Aveson Community Foundation
Los Angeles County Info
Salvation army disaster services

Restoring Faith

The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services

The Salvation Army will be there before, during and after disasters.

The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
Learn More

What do the deadly Los Angeles fires mean for the city’s wildlife?

by Kylie Mohr, High Country News

January 10, 2025

 
High Country News
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2025 Urban Wildlife Wildfire Response in L.A. County on Native Land

 


 
iNaturalist
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How policymakers can help the L.A. wildfire recovery

By Christian Hetrick
January 23, 2025
USC Price
Sol Price School of Public Policy 
Learn More

An artist gifts 1,000 drawings of homes destroyed by fires

By Megan Jamerson Jan. 22, 2025 (See the full original article posted at KCRW.com)

Asher Bingham’s hand guides a fine-tip black marker around a sheet of thick white paper, creating lines and dots that eventually form a house with foliage in front.

This is just one of the more than 1,000 destroyed homes Bingham has been asked to draw since posting on Instagram two days after the Palisades and Eaton Fires began.

Bingham says when she learned that a friend’s house burned down in the Eaton Fire, she didn’t know what to say that could be helpful, so she picked up her pen and drew the home as a gift.
Asher Bingham's Website

Transforming Lives, Restoring Relationships

Teen Challenge of Southern California

At Teen Challenge, lives burdened by addiction and despair are being transformed every day by the power of the Gospel. Through programs like their residential recovery centers and outreach initiatives such as New Life Ministries, they are reaching thousands of individuals and families with the hope of Jesus Christ.

Learn More

Samaritan center sv

Restoring Lives

The Samaritan Center Simi Valley

The mission of the Samaritan Center is to offer Simi Valley residents experiencing housing and food insecurities supportive services essential to human dignity.
Learn More

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