News

On Wednesday, September 25, 2024, the County of Los Angeles held its annual Eaton Canyon Community Meeting inside the auditorium to discuss plans for the park over the next 12 months. County staff updated the public on upcoming events, changes to park infrastructure, and changes to staffing. Members of the public were given a chance to voice their concerns, ask questions, and suggest new ideas. Multiple county staff members, including Eaton Canyon Park Superintendent Richard Smart and Natural Areas Administrator Kim Bosell, were present to answer questions and lead discussions.

Click on each tab below to learn more about announcements made by the county to the general public:

• New Restrooms
• Additional Staff
• Event: Community Training
• Event: Indigenous People’s Day

New restrooms:
New outdoor restrooms at Eaton Canyon are set to be constructed in spring 2025 and opened in early summer. They will be located at the end of the parking lot and will serve as a replacement for the four porta-potties currently in place in the same area. Construction from start to finish is expected to take four months. These restrooms will be plumbed, and a new maintenance worker will be hired to help staff keep them clean. The restrooms were previously supposed to be opened in July 2024 but were delayed due to problems with proper permitting.

Additional Staff:
Eaton Canyon is currently the most heavily staffed park within the Los Angeles County Natural Areas system which consists of 9 parks. It is also the busiest, seeing well over 1,000,000 visitors per year. A new Park Aide will be hired to fill a vacancy from earlier in the summer, and a new grounds maintenance worker will be hired to assist in maintaining the new restrooms.

Upcoming event:
Community Training: Intro to Coexisting with San Gabriel Mountain Cougars & Los Wildlife:
“FREE program on Saturday October 26th! Learn about our local cougar population and how we can coexist with these animals. Mountain lions are a keystone species and play an important part in regulating herbivore populations, disease spread, and more.”

Date: Saturday, October 26, 2024
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Location: Eaton Canyon Nature Center 1750 N. Altadena Dr. Pasadena, CA 91107
Reservations: None required
Fee: Free entry to everyone
Ages: Recommended for ages 16+

Upcoming events:
The Eaton Canyon Nature Center will be hosting multiple Indigenous People’s Day related events throughout the first half of October. There are as follows:

Yucca Cordage Class
October 3, 2024 from 6:00pm -7:00pm
Learn about and honor indigenous heritage and craftsmanship through this hands-on class.

Film screening of “Saging the World.”
October 10, 2024 from 6:00pm – 7:00pm
A documentary about the importance of white sage from ecological and cultural perspectives shown in the Nature Center auditorium

Ethnobotany Walk
October 17 from 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Learn about the traditional uses for California Native Plants during a guided tour through Nature Center curated gardens.

All events are free to everyone.
All events do not require reservation.
All events are recommended for ages 6+.
All events are located at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center ar 1750 N. Altadena Dr. Pasadena, CA 91107

The 2024 Community Meeting saw far fewer attendees than the 2023 meeting, a drop from 30 to just 6. This may have been partly due to the 2023 meeting taking place on a Friday evening, while the 2024 meeting was held on a Wednesday evening. No new questions that were not asked in the 2023 meeting occurred this time around. An overview of the questions asked at the 2023 meeting can be found here.

On the morning of Sunday, September 29, 2024, a volunteer at Eaton Canyon came across a lit candle in dry brush while removing trash deep within the park. The candle was discovered within a peculiar assortment of discarded items, including crab legs, a slice of sausage, and potatoes. The volunteer promptly extinguished the flame and searched the area for additional candles. There is no word on who is responsible for the careless and highly dangerous act.

Los Angeles County law (§ 326.13) prohibits the use of open flame devices in hazardous fire areas, including items like lighters. In cases like this, individuals found responsible for starting a wildfire at Eaton Canyon could face charges of criminal negligence. This term refers to behavior that disregards an obvious risk or the safety of others, often described by courts as recklessness—where a person acts far outside the bounds of what a reasonable individual would do under similar circumstances. If any deaths are caused by such wildfire, charges of second degree murder can be handed down.

This incident occurs during what is quickly shaping up to be a worse than average year for wildfires in Southern California. The #BridgeFire has already consumed nearly 55,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest. According to the National Forest Service, about 85% of all wildfires are caused by human activity.

Eaton Canyon last burned in the 1993 Kinneloa Fire, which was caused by a unattended illegal campfire at a small pine forest along the Mt. Wilson Toll road at the intersection with the Walnut Canyon Trail. That wildfire destroyed the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, 118 homes lining the canyon, and indirectly killed 3 people. Enormous amounts of brush, such as the area photographed below, have built up in the canyon over the past 31 years since the fire.

On the afternoon of September 6, 2024, at approximately 2:30 PM, the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team (AMRT) responded to a hiker in distress near the Chuck Ballard Memorial Bridge. The hiker, suffering from heat illness, was extracted and is expected to recover.

The first week of September 2024 brought yet another significant heat wave to Southern California, with temperatures across many coastal valleys soaring into the 110s Fahrenheit. In lower Eaton Canyon, where Southern California Edison installed multiple weather stations in 2020 as a part of their controversial Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) program, high temperatures ranged from 111°F to 113°F. Henninger Flats, in comparison, recorded slightly cooler but still scorching highs of 107°F to 109°F. Old town Pasadena likely tied its record for hottest afternoon in 117 years of weather record keeping after reaching 115°F.

Heat illnesses are serious conditions that can escalate rapidly if not addressed. Symptoms include:

• No sweating
• Confusion or disorientation
• Limping or difficulty walking
• Shortness of breath
• Vomiting
• Throbbing headache
• Pale skin
• Unconsciousness

Heat stroke, the most severe form of heat illness, is a medical emergency that can be lethal. If you suspect someone is experiencing heat stroke, immediately call 9-1-1.