Location of Brush Canyon: 2980-3000 Canyon Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90068
Hours: dusk to dawn
Length of Hike: 6.2 mi summiting Mt. Lee
This hike was particularly special to my project because griffith park is somewhat of a second home to my mom. An avid hiker, my mom had gone on trails throughout this area many times before so it was nice to have someone who was familiar to the area. That begin said, we did go off trail a little bit in search of water. What looked like a trail through the canyon was slightly overgrown suggesting that maybe it was rarely traveled, but make sure if doing this hike to wear pants and a long sleeve, there are ticks! There is also a trail that goes up the side of the canyon that doesn't actually take you through it that would be the more traveled route.
Griffith Park, named after colonel Griffith J. Griffith, is better known for having been started with an ostrich farm and being haunted. What people don't look into is how much the park has changed since becoming more developed. Griffith park is home to many plant and animal species and a wide array of ecosystems. After the death of Griffith J. Griffith the park was donated to Los Angeles county where it was declared a state park in 1896, which is why the park has remained largely undeveloped. Parts of the LA river used to flow throughout the park and thus when LA designed the flood control system griffith park and its streams were included. Channelization was completed as a way to make the park more accessible to people while still being safe as it attracted many tourists. All of the creeks and streams throughout griffith park were cemented. They also built dams throughout the park in the low lying areas to prevent flooding. The cementation of the waterways throughout griffith park majorly effected the riparian habitats. It prevented many different organisms from living in the streams and slowed the flow of water throughout the park.
The effects of channelization are more prevalent now than they probably were in the past. Never having been to brush canyon, I was hoping to do water tests and hike along the creek. But much to my demise when I arrived there, there were no signs of water being there recently. Every bed had been completely dried up. Even when I entered the canyon itself and hiked farther inward there was no sign of any water. Although the soil became softer as I hiked farther into the canyon, there was no surface water at all.
Luckily for me a park ranger was driving by and I got the chance to ask him about water but I was shocked when his reply to my question, "When was the last time there was water in Griffith Park?", was "oh man, not since before the 80s if that." He proceeded to tell me about how the water table in LA and Griffith Park had dropped drastically since the beginning of the drought and there's barely any ground water left let alone surface water. This was obvious as I hiked along the canyon, most of the trees were on lower elevation closer to the water table and many looked dried out. There were flowers as we hiked up that seemed to die as we got to higher elevations. I was very disappointed having knowledge of a Griffith Park that was once an abundant water source to find out that a place that was so loved by Los Angeles was struggling to survive.
[dried up creek]
[the Prado dam]
[stormwater system]
[brush- it seemed to dry out and die as we got to higher elevation]
[another dried bed]
[went to test water- guess that won't be happening]
Another human impact piece that isn't quite relevant to what I was studying is the mountain lion that lives in Griffith Park. It's referred to as P-22 and was exposed to rat poison that is believed to have caused it to develop mange. Often deadly, the mountain lion is now fighting for its life. There has been a study testing the other animals that live in the area and about 80% of them have tested positive for having been exposed to rat poison set out by people.
[mountain lion tracker]
On another note, griffith park is home to many endemic species as well as species that are reliant on native vegetation and I will be posting a field guide to griffith park later on. The riparian habitat we visited was lined with sycamores and oaks and we saw many eucalyptus. Unfortunately I didn't get to see a California Black Walnut which is endemic to Los Angeles but there are plenty of plants to see. Also unfortunately I didn't get to see any animals roaming around because it was pretty hot but there were plenty of ticks- yuck.
Sources of Information:
[http://www.hikespeak.com/trails/mount-lee-hollywood-sign-hike-cahuenga-peak-griffith-park/]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith_Park#History]
[http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/griffith-park-history.html]
[http://www.friendsofgriffithpark.org/learn-resource.php]
[http://www.laparks.org/dos/parks/griffithpk/wildlife/index.html]
Get Involved: volunteer at one of the many attractions within griffith park or in fire recovery at www.laparks.org
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