The Pasadena Public Health Department is investigating four confirmed cases at Don Benito Fundamental School

The Pasadena Public Health Department announced Wednesday it is investigating an outbreak of whooping cough involving four confirmed cases at Don Benito Fundamental School.

The department is working with the Pasadena Unified School District and others to monitor for any additional infections and to guide response efforts, according to a statement from the Pasadena city manager’s office.

Health officials have notified close contacts and provided instructions for testing, treatment when appropriate, and staying home if symptoms develop, the statement said.

The city manager’s office said whooping cough, or pertussis activity, has been elevated in the community, and health officials are urging residents to ensure they are up to date on their vaccinations.

Health department officials recommend that anyone who develops a persistent cough or other respiratory symptoms contact a health care provider and that people remain home when ill to reduce transmission. Parents were advised to keep symptomatic children out of school and seek medical evaluation if needed.

Whooping cough spreads through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or has close contact with others, according to the city manager’s office. Symptoms typically appear five to 21 days after exposure. Early symptoms often resemble a mild cold, including a runny nose, sneezing, low-grade fever, and a mild cough.

The illness can progress to severe coughing fits that may lead to vomiting, difficulty breathing, or a characteristic “whooping” sound. Infants may not develop a typical cough and instead may show signs such as gagging, changes in skin color, or brief pauses in breathing, according to the city manager’s office.

Health officials said individuals who have been exposed should monitor for symptoms for up to 21 days and contact a health care provider if illness develops. Those diagnosed are generally advised to remain home until they have completed at least five days of appropriate antibiotic treatment.

In some cases, preventive antibiotics may be recommended for high-risk individuals, including infants, pregnant people, and caregivers of young children.

The health department stressed vaccination as the most effective protection against whooping cough and its complications. Health officials recommend that children are up to date on the DTaP series — diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis — and that adolescents receive the Tdap booster, with adults also maintaining current vaccination status, particularly those in close contact with infants and pregnant women.

Clinicians are being asked to follow established guidelines for testing and treatment of suspected cases, and school exclusion policies apply to students who meet the criteria for confirmed or suspected infection, according to the city manager’s office.

The Pasadena Public Health Department offers the Tdap vaccine on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment or on a walk-in basis.

The Pasadena Public Health Department Wednesday urged residents to take precautions against mpox and consider vaccination as cases increase in California.

Health officials said vaccination remains the best protection against severe illness, particularly for individuals at higher risk of exposure.

Mpox, a viral disease, is currently circulating in two strains, known as clade I and clade II. Clade I cases are typically linked to international travel, while clade II has been spreading at low levels in California since 2022, primarily through close physical contact.

A recent clade I case was confirmed in San Francisco involving an unvaccinated individual with travel-related exposure, while statewide data show a rise in clade II infections, officials said.

“With summer travel and large events approaching, now is the ideal time to protect yourself if you or your sex partner may be at risk for mpox,” Pasadena Health Officer Dr. Parveen Kaur said in a statement.

Health officials said the virus spreads through close contact with infected individuals, including exposure to bodily fluids, skin lesions or contaminated materials. Symptoms can include fever, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and a rash.

Most cases are mild and resolve within two to four weeks, but individuals remain contagious until lesions have healed and new skin has formed, according to the department.

The Pasadena Public Health Department and the California Department of Public Health are recommending that eligible individuals receive two doses of the Jynneos vaccine, which officials said is effective in preventing infection and reducing the severity of illness.

Residents are also advised to avoid close contact with people who have symptoms, practice good hygiene and seek medical care if symptoms develop.

Officials said the overall risk to the general public remains low, but those in higher-risk groups are encouraged to take preventive measures and consult health care providers about vaccination options.

Los Angeles County captured more than 120 billion gallons of stormwater during the 2025-26 storm season, a sharp increase from the previous year that will significantly boost the region’s groundwater supply, officials announced Wednesday.

The total of 120.3 billion gallons collected between October and April 15 marks a dramatic rise from the 11.9 billion gallons captured during the prior storm season, according to county officials.

The water is expected to recharge aquifers with enough supply to meet the needs of about 3 million people for a year.

Downtown Los Angeles recorded 16.9 inches of rainfall during the season, about 110% of its annual average, according to county officials. By comparison, the previous year brought just 6.6 inches, less than half the typical annual total of 15.4 inches.

Officials said stormwater captured in reservoirs and spreading grounds reached 185% of average for this time of year.

“Capturing more stormwater here in Los Angeles County is one of the most powerful opportunities we have right now to strengthen our local water supply,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement. “Investments in stormwater infrastructure allow us to store more of the rainfall our region receives and put it to use for our communities.”

County Public Works officials pointed to a combination of weather and system performance.

“This season’s rainfall translated into a significant increase in stormwater capture, which reflects the performance of the County’s flood control infrastructure, as well as our coordinated stormwater management efforts,” said Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works.

Officials said the county will continue investing in stormwater capture through infrastructure upgrades, sediment removal and improved reservoir operations to maximize storage capacity.

Horvath is scheduled to convene the county’s third annual Water Summit in May to bring together regional leaders to discuss long-term water resilience strategies.

A voter drops off their ballot at a drop-box in front of the Registrar of Voters office in downtown Fresno on Nov. 4, 2025. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

When California voters approved Proposition 13 in 1978, they forced a massive change in how government services are financed that continues to reverberate nearly a half-century later.

Prop. 13’s limits on property taxes that had financed public schools and other units of local government for many decades forced fundamental changes in fiscal responsibilities — the state assuming education costs being just one example.

California media extensively covered Prop. 13’s financial impacts at the time, and countless academic and journalistic analyses have done so since. But one aspect of its passage has been largely ignored.

California’s political leadership in 1978 — Gov. Jerry Brown and a Legislature controlled by his fellow Democrats — did their best to torpedo Prop. 13 by placing a rival measure on the same primary election ballot. The alternative, Proposition 8, promised property tax relief for owner-occupied homes but denied it to commercial property.

Prop. 13 passed overwhelmingly but Prop. 8 lost narrowly. The failed counterplay was quickly forgotten as politicians — Brown most obviously — rushed to embrace the tax revolt. Brown even called himself a “born-again tax cutter.”

Prop. 13 sparked an explosion of ballot initiatives that continues today. Although the practice of allowing initiatives to make law while bypassing the Legislature had been in place since 1912, it was scantly used until Prop. 13 demonstrated its power. Hundreds of initiatives have been proposed since — nearly a thousand just in the last 20 years.

And while the rates of qualification and passage are relatively tiny, voters can anticipate facing about a dozen ballot propositions every two years. Most faintly resemble, if at all, truly grassroots movements. The vast majority are sponsored by narrow economic or ideological interests seeking to gain financial or political advantages.

Backers will spend millions of dollars to draft and qualify their measures using paid signature-gathers to fill their petitions and many more millions to sell them to voters. Swing Strategies, a Sacramento political consulting firm that specializes in ballot measures, says placing a measure on the ballot can cost more than $10 million, and campaigns can hit the $100 million mark.

During a webinar on the 2026 initiative picture this week, Swing Strategies said 48 measures were originally proposed, 36 of them tried to make the ballot by collecting the required number of valid voter signatures and 17 are true contenders as the April 17 deadline for submitting petitions draws near.

The 17 contenders fit the mold of reflecting narrow interests. Many harken back to 1978, when politicians placed a rival measure on the ballot in hopes of killing Prop. 13.

For example, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West ( or SEIU-UHW), a huge health care worker union, has a measure to limit health care executives’ compensation, and the California Hospital Association countered with a proposition to compel health care unions to tell members how much money they spend on politics.

Another example: Personal injury lawyers have a measure to hold rideshare companies liable for sexual assaults by drivers, while Uber has one to limit lawyers’ fees in auto crash lawsuits.

There’s also a quadruple play on taxes.

SEIU-UHW is sponsoring a 5% tax on the wealth of California billionaires to provide more health care money, and the California Teachers Association wants to make a temporary surtax on high-income Californians permanent.

Meanwhile, business and anti-tax groups propose making local government tax increases more difficult by increasing their vote thresholds — paying homage to Prop. 13. But a measure placed on the ballot by the Legislature would torpedo it by requiring a higher vote threshold for measures that raise tax increase vote thresholds.

That’s a clone of the Prop. 13 duel 48 years ago. Some things never change.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

State, County, and City officials gather with California Service Corps members and volunteers after a busy morning clearing fire-prone invasive weeds from Eaton Canyon to kick off LA Climate Week.

With the spring comes the weeds.

So scores of volunteers fanned out across the still-closed Eaton Canyon on Wednesday morning, crouching low and working by hand to pull invasive plants from the soil in an effort to reduce wildfire risk and restore native habitat following last year’s devastating fire.

The event, held at the canyon’s back plateau, marked the official kickoff of Los Angeles Climate Week and brought together community members, state officials and nonprofit groups in a large-scale service project.

Kim Bosell, regional operations manager for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, said the work is both urgent and ongoing.

“We’re having the kickoff event for LA Climate Week where hundreds of volunteers have come to Eaton Canyon to help us remove non-native invasive species that are preventing the native plants from growing back after the Eaton Fire,” Bosell said.

The process is labor-intensive. Volunteers worked without machinery or herbicides, pulling weeds by hand across roughly a half-mile stretch of terrain. The goal, Bosell said, is to remove invasive plants before they go to seed—a seasonal race repeated each spring.

“It’s a long-term marathon,” she said. “The weeds are nonstop.”

Josh Fryday, director of the Governor’s Office of Service and Community Engagement, emphasized both the environmental and community-building aspects of the effort.

“We have volunteers from the area out here taking out invasive species,” Fryday said, noting the focus on mustard plants that can spread rapidly and increase fire danger. “We’re trying to make sure the seeds don’t fall before the spring bloom.”

Fryday also used the event to announce recruitment for more than 3,000 paid positions in the California Service Corps, a statewide initiative focused on climate action, disaster response and community service.

Local nonprofit L.A. Works, which helped organize the volunteer turnout, framed the project as both preventative and restorative.

“All of those invasive species burn really quickly when fires come through,” said Steven Davalos, the organization’s vice president of external affairs. “We’re removing that to provide space for native plants to thrive and to help prepare this park for reopening.”

Davalos estimated that volunteers could clear several acres during the morning effort, underscoring the scale of the challenge—and the impact of collective action.

While Wednesday’s event was a one-day mobilization, officials stressed that the work will continue year-round through smaller volunteer groups that regularly return to the canyon.

For Bosell, the message was simple: more hands are needed.

“We’ll take all the volunteers we can get,” she said.

Fifteen months after the Eaton Fire, the city and a nonprofit partner are betting on a four-legged approach to clearing fire-prone brush

Fifteen months after the Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,000 structures and killed at least 19 people across Altadena and parts of Pasadena, the city is turning to an unlikely line of defense: goats.

More than 800 of them will be released into the Arroyo Seco on Saturday, April 18, to begin a two-month pilot program targeting nearly 100 acres of invasive brush and dry vegetation that officials say makes the corridor particularly vulnerable to wildfire. The City of Pasadena and the One Arroyo Foundation, the nonprofit funding the effort, announced the initiative in a March 26 press release.

The Arroyo Seco stretches from Hahamongna Watershed Park to South Pasadena. Overgrowth and fire-prone vegetation have made it a fuel-load concern — and much of it sits on terrain too steep for conventional clearing equipment. The goats can navigate that ground. Over two months, they will eat invasive plants and dry brush while returning nutrients to the soil, the city said.

It is not an untested concept. Fire departments in Glendale and Laguna Beach have deployed goats for vegetation management, and Southern California Edison has used herds in the Sierra Nevada. The practice has gained traction across California as communities search for alternatives to costly mechanical clearing in hard-to-reach terrain.

Pasadena’s version pairs the grazing program with the One Arroyo Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and preserving the Arroyo Seco. Daniel Rossman, the foundation’s executive director, called the initiative a pilot.

“This pilot shows how nature-based solutions can help people and nature thrive together — and that goats might just be the greatest of all time at reducing wildfire risk in hard-to-reach areas,” Rossman said in the press release.

Mayor Victor Gordo said the program reflects the city’s broader shift toward nature-based strategies in the wake of the Eaton Fire. “This initiative reflects how we can turn that shared appreciation into action,” Gordo said in the press release, “implementing innovative, nature-based strategies that strengthen our city’s resilience.”

The goat launch coincides with a free Earth Day celebration at Brookside Park, 360 N. Arroyo Blvd., from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will include goat yoga sponsored by the Rose Bowl Stadium, a goat petting zoo, and educational sessions with the goat herder. Partners Remainders Creative Reuse, Outward Bound Adventures, and Pasadena 100 will offer additional programming, and five city departments — Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Transportation, Health, and Water and Power — will staff booths covering stormwater management, clean energy, and environmental health.

The city’s sustainability team will also kick off its Climate Action Plan update at the event, inviting residents to provide input on Pasadena’s environmental direction. Free compost will be available, and the city will offer free rides on Route 51 (Pasadena Transit) to Brookside Park throughout the day.

To RSVP or learn more, visit OneArroyo.org/Goats. The City Service Center can be reached at (626) 744-7311.

“The Arroyo Seco is Pasadena’s greatest environmental and recreational treasure, and it belongs to all of us,” Rossman said at a city event in September 2025. On April 18, the goats get to work on it.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION & LAUNCH OF GOAT GRAZING INITIATIVE Date & Time: Saturday, April 18, 2026, 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM | Venue: Brookside Park / Arroyo Seco, 360 N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena, CA | Phone Number: 323-405-7326 | Website: https://www.onearroyo.org/goats

[photo credit: LA County]

According to the county Department of Public Health, cases have been reported countywide, but localized outbreaks were confirmed in the Los Angeles Central City area, Santa Monica and Willowbrook.

“Flea-borne typhus can cause serious illness, but it is preventable with simple steps,” Dr. Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County health officer, said in a statement. “With cases at an all-time high and most requiring hospitalization, it’s critical that people take simple steps now, such as routinely using flea control on their pets, avoiding contact with stray animals, and preventing wildlife from living in or around their homes.”

Health officials said 187 cases were reported in 2024 in the county. Symptoms generally appear within one or two weeks of infection, and can include fever, headache, rash and body aches.

Residents can protect against the disease by using flea-control treatments on pets year-round, avoiding handling or feeding stray animals, and keep wildlife away by security trash cans and blocking entry points and hiding places on residential properties.

According to DPH, people are often exposed in or near their homes when infected fleas are carried indoors by pets or other animals. Typhus- infected fleas are typically found on stray animals, rodents and wildlife such as opossums.

More information is available online at ph.lacounty.gov/typhus.

[City of Pasadena]

A free Pasadena library panel brings a county biologist, a prescribed burn advocate, and a Caltech researcher together to discuss what the burned landscape needs next

The Eaton Fire consumed more than 9,000 structures and 14,000 acres of the San Gabriel foothills. It also burned through one of Los Angeles County’s most ecologically sensitive habitats — and 15 months later, the canyon that gave the fire its name is still closed to the public, still raw, still recovering.

On April 4, a free panel at the Pasadena Public Library’s Hastings Branch will turn the conversation from what residents lost to what the land requires. The discussion, titled “Ecological Perspectives: On the Eaton Fire Recovery Process,” brings together a county biologist overseeing habitat restoration in Eaton Canyon, the founder of a fledgling prescribed burn association for Los Angeles County, and a Caltech graduate student with wildland firefighting experience to examine the fire through a scientific lens that official recovery efforts have rarely foregrounded.

The panel’s lineup connects directly to the ecological questions that the Eaton Fire raised. Christian Mace, a natural areas biologist with the LA County Department of Parks and Recreation, works in the very landscape the fire reshaped. Mace’s agency recently launched the Landscape Recovery Center at Eaton Canyon, a nursery and restoration hub that opened on March 7 with nearly $3 million in grant funding and a mandate to grow native plants for seven fire-damaged county parks, six of them in Altadena.

Two hundred native trees and 1,000 shrubs have been purchased so far. Species were selected for ecological value and their cultural significance to the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians Gabrielino Tongva, according to LA County Parks.

Emilio Sweet-Coll, the second panelist, brings a different dimension. Sweet-Coll founded the LA County Prescribed Burn Association, a grassroots effort modeled after similar organizations across California that trains community members to use controlled fire as a land management tool. Prescribed burning — the deliberate, planned application of fire to reduce vegetation and restore ecological function — has gained traction across the state in recent years but remains relatively new in urban-adjacent Los Angeles County.

Eli Grossman, a Caltech graduate student who will moderate the discussion, has worked on wildland fire crews, including as a fire effects monitor at Yosemite National Park and a member of a wilderness wildland fire module where he participated in prescribed burns and suppression operations.

The panel’s stated topics include the specific post-fire management challenges facing Eaton Canyon and community-led efforts to change the way residents relate to fire, according to the event description posted by the Pasadena Public Library. Attendees may submit questions in advance through a form linked on the event listing.

The event arrives at a moment when the ecological dimensions of the Eaton Fire’s aftermath are becoming increasingly visible. The Landscape Recovery Center’s opening ceremony on March 7 drew LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Assemblymember John Harabedian, and Parks Director Norma E. García-González, who described the center as the first phase of a multi-phase recovery of what the county has designated a Significant Ecological Area. Harabedian, who represents Pasadena in the state Assembly, helped secure state funding for the project.

Meanwhile, the broader ecological toll of the fire continues to come into focus. A study released in March 2026 by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences found that the Eaton Fire produced carbon monoxide emissions at rates more than 20 times higher than LA County’s average daily human-caused output, with burning structures contributing a larger share of carbon than trees and shrubs.

“Ecological Perspectives: On the Eaton Fire Recovery Process” takes place Saturday, April 4, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. at Hastings Branch Library, 3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena. The event is free. For more information, call 626-744-7262 or visit the Pasadena Public Library’s event calendar at cityofpasadena.net/library.

Eaton Canyon’s trails remain closed. Its nature center was destroyed. But beneath the char, the roots of native plants are already pushing through soil that county biologists are learning to read — and on April 4, they will try to teach the rest of us how.

ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES: ON THE EATON FIRE RECOVERY PROCESS Date & Time: Saturday, April 4, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. Venue: Hastings Branch Library 3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd. Pasadena , CA 91107. Phone Number: 626-744-7262. Website: https://www.cityofpasadena.net/library/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D197579829

Health officials say four of seven patients nationwide are 3 years old or younger; California dairy company declined FDA’s recall request

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Tuesday warned residents to discard RAW FARM-brand raw cheddar cheese after federal investigators linked the product to a multistate E. coli outbreak that has sickened seven people, including two in LA County.

Four of the seven patients are 3 years old or younger, according to the FDA. Two have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported

The cheese has reportedly been sold at Sprouts Farmers Market at 39 N. Rosemead Blvd. and Erewhon Market at 475 S. Lake Ave. in Pasadena, according to prior county health notices, though it has not been confirmed whether the product remains on shelves at those locations.

RAW FARM, LLC, a Fresno-based dairy company, declined the FDA’s request to voluntarily recall the cheese. It is the first time in the company’s history it has refused such a request, according to RAW FARM President Aaron McAfee, as reported by The Business Journal of Fresno.

“We disagree 100% with the allegations made by the FDA and CDC,” the company said in a statement reported by NBC News. “All our milk is tested prior to making cheese and our finished cheese is tested prior to release. We have no customer complaints at this time.”

No RAW FARM cheddar cheese products from the outbreak period have tested positive for E. coli, according to the FDA. State partners have collected product samples for testing, but results are not yet available, the FDA said.

The FDA’s position rests on epidemiologic evidence. All three patients interviewed by public health officials reported eating RAW FARM raw cheddar cheese, and whole genome sequencing showed the E. coli isolates from patients were closely related genetically, according to the FDA’s outbreak investigation page.

“Epidemiologic evidence indicates that RAW FARM-brand raw cheddar cheese products made by RAW FARM, LLC are the likely source of this outbreak,” the FDA said.

Illness onset dates range from September 1, 2025, to February 13, 2026, according to the FDA. Cases have been reported in California, Florida and Texas. Five of the seven patients are in California.

The county health department said symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 infection typically begin three to four days after consumption and include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting, according to the department’s press release. Children, older adults, pregnant people and those with weakened immune systems face particular risk of severe illness, the department said. The strain can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure, according to the FDA.

The implicated products include both block and shredded forms of RAW FARM raw cheddar cheese, according to the FDA. The department advised residents to throw the cheese away or return it and to sanitize any surfaces that came into contact with the product.

This is the third outbreak linked to RAW FARM products in three years. In February 2024, the company’s raw cheddar cheese was linked to an E. coli outbreak that sickened 10 people in four states, according to the FDA. A Salmonella outbreak tied to Raw Farm raw milk, beginning in fall 2023, sickened at least 165 people in four states, according to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Under the Food Safety Modernization Act, the FDA Commissioner has the authority to order a mandatory recall when a company declines to act voluntarily, according to FDA guidance documents. The FDA had not indicated whether it will exercise that authority.

[Photos courtesy René Amy]

René Amy spent months sowing California poppies across more than 750 fire-damaged properties, largely alone and at his own expense — and the flowers are now emerging

The first California poppy René Amy can claim as a direct result of his Great Altadena Poppy Project bloomed about a week ago. It opened on the lot where his own home once stood, before the Eaton Fire took it.

The first flower, from 250 million seeds.

Amy, the founder of The Great Altadena Poppy Project, said he spent months sowing a quarter-billion California poppy seeds across more than 750 fire-damaged properties in the Eaton Fire burn scar — an effort he executed largely alone, largely at his own expense, using a portable hand-crank seed spreader on each property.

His project has no office and no staff. Whether those seeds produce anything close to a quarter-billion blooms depends on rain and conditions he cannot control. But more flowers have opened since that first one, he said — on his property and across Altadena.

“The whole idea — especially what was driving me to get it done — was to bring a little bit of hope and joy and beauty to my neighbors,” Amy said in an interview. “Unfortunately, I can literally feel for them, because we’re all in the same boat.”

Amy lost his home when the Eaton Fire swept through the community on January 7. The blaze destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 19 people. Amy is currently living in temporary housing near Altadena.

The project traces back to a wildflower seed and native milkweed seed giveaway Amy had planned before the conflagration, for January 27 at Altadena Grocery Outlet — an event the fire prevented from happening.

Amy operates Altadena Maid, a micro-business he describes as a “passion project” built around native wildflowers and their role in supporting pollinators such as monarch butterflies. He said he has spent “pushing 15 years” building a sense of community in Altadena, including founding a local Nextdoor neighborhood.

When the project’s initial goal of 100 million seeds was announced November 19, 2025, Amy said he expected 200 to 300 property signups. But community interest far outpaced that.

“It proved to be far more popular than I anticipated,” he said, “ultimately having upwards of 750 property signups.”

By January 13, 2026 — six days after the one-year anniversary of the fire — the seed count had more than doubled to 250 million. Amy said he also distributed more than 8,000 hand-packed seed packets locally, regionally, nationally, and, to some degree, internationally.

He considered cheaper seed varieties — some running as many as 20 million seeds per pound — before deciding to use California poppies despite the cost.

“I don’t care if I have to eat cardboard for a few months,” Amy said. “I’m going to get this done and I’m going to use the California poppies and hopefully funding to help support will come in as it is actually starting to, and I won’t have to eat cardboard.”

Amy told ABC7 in January that most of the funding came “out of my own almost-completely-empty pocket,” according to the station’s report. The Altadena Rotary Club also contributed financially to the seed purchase, Amy said.

Volunteer support was minimal, Amy said. He had one organized day with six members of the California Climate Action Corps, facilitated through the environmental nonprofit Amigos de los Rios, and approximately five individual community volunteers who showed up on various days.

“As the seeds hit the ground,” Amy said, “it was pretty much just me.”

Through the fall, Amy had been running field operations for Amigos de los Rios and its tree-watering program in the fire zone, moving through a landscape he described as “dry, dusty, desolate.” What he saw there, he said, pushed him to see the poppy project through.

The largest single property Amy seeded was Nuccio’s Nurseries, which he estimated at 10 to 15 acres. That property alone received tens of millions of seeds, he said. A hillside he called “the star of Palow” received another tens of millions. Amy said ArtCenter College of Design’s 160-acre campus was also seeded as what he called a local extension of the project.

Some of those blooms may never be visible from any road. Many seeded properties are far back into the hills, Amy said, their poppies seen only by their owners. In other cases, Army Corps of Engineers clearing operations left seeded areas below surrounding grade — blooms that may be visible, he said, only from the air.

“For me, losing damn near everything I had ever acquired, made, appreciated, everything in my life was one thing,” Amy said. “Losing the homes on the street I lived, experiencing that was another, but the major aspect of the devastation to me was the loss of community.”

The California poppy — the state flower, and what Amy and local officials describe as Los Angeles County’s designated flower — has been associated with Altadena for more than a century. A famous 1907 photograph, taken and then hand-colored, shows tourists picking poppies in Altadena. The poppies in that image are depicted as red, not the golden orange of California poppies. Amy said the poppies were colored red because the wealthy East Coast visitors of the day were more familiar with European red poppies — “in the fields of Flanders, poppies are red,” as he put it — and marketers colored them to appeal to that audience.

Early promotional materials referred to Altadena as the “Altar Cloth of San Pasqual” because of the dense poppy fields that once defined the landscape. The California poppy appears in the Altadena Town Council seal, according to Amy, and Altadena has a street called Poppy Fields Street.

Veronica Jones, president of the Altadena Historical Society — which assisted with packing and distributing seed packets — said the community’s tie to poppies runs deep.

“There’s good reason why Altadena has streets named Poppyfields and Las Flores,” Jones said. “Our area was actually a tourist destination before it was fully developed.”

Val Zavala, president of Altadena Heritage, called the California poppy “the perfect metaphor for Altadena’s recovery.”

Brad Roeber, president of the Altadena Rotary Club, described the project as an example of community in action.

“Rotary is all about service above self, and it’s projects like René’s that remind us how a simple idea — along with some elbow grease and can-do attitude — can make a huge difference,” Roeber said.

The project also reached beyond Altadena. Amy said he distributed nearly 1,000 seed packets to incoming Rotary International club presidents from across the Southwest United States at an LAX Marriott training event for ShelterBox, a disaster-relief organization. The intent, he said, was for those presidents to distribute seeds to their members worldwide for what he calls “solidarity sowings.”

Amy said he can see the project evolving into what he calls “the great Altadena pollinator project” — a more personalized effort, in collaboration with the Xerces Society, where he said he serves as a volunteer ambassador, to help residents build pollinator-friendly gardens using native plants and wildflowers. He also hopes to see a Great Altadena Poppy Festival in the future.

“The original idea was, and hopefully we’ll see a quarter billion California poppy plants,” Amy said. “That should get some attention.”

“If all the poppies and all the poppy seeds somehow instantly disappeared from Altadena,” he said, “the net result would still be a win because it helped to make people feel good, feel that someone actually cares and that someone is actually taking positive steps to get it done.”