News & Updates
Toyon Through the Seasons
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) is a very important plant for the overall healthy habitat of Griffith Park. The plant is commonly seen growing wild...
LA Zoo Expansion — FoGP’s Next Steps
In 1896 Colonel Griffith J. Griffith donated land that became Griffith Park in order to provide a respite from the pressures of urban life for all people of...
Winter Strikes a Blow in Griffith Park
Per Leon Boroditsky, RAP Forestry Division "There were 56 tree-related emergencies from January through April of this year in the Park; 43 trees were down or...
The Ups and Downs of Griffith Park’s Merry-Go-Round
The Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round has been a part of Angelenos' lives for 88 years. Children have gravitated toward the happy, upbeat music from its...
No Such Thing as a “Safe Poison”
A red-tailed hawk hovers aloft over the 101 in the midday sun, scanning a nearby hillside for signs of life. This raptor's keen eyes catch the rustle...
P-22’s Long Legacy in Griffith Park
We all knew that the day would come. The phone call. The text message. The social media post. How terrible would the news be? "P-22 has been hit."...
Nuttall’s Woodpecker: a Californian Special
You'll probably hear its distinct voice before you see the elusive Nuttall's woodpecker. The call is a loud rattling with just a couple notes that most...
Mapping Weeds in Griffith Park
Calflora is a non-profit organization that developed a database of California plants that fulfills a huge need for the conservation, education, and...
Spring-Summer 2023 Reporter
Read or download the Spring-Summer 2023 edition of the Griffith Reporter PDF. DOWNLOAD PDF
Shedding Light on Griffith Park
THE SIGN Inbound Mayor Bass made a bold statement on her earliest arrival. The final Executive Directive quietly carried out by former Mayor Eric Garcetti was...
The Blinding Realities of Light Pollution
Something I've always found special about Griffith Park is how dark the city can feel at night even as you gaze out at its thousands of lights from the...
FoGP Scholarship Awardees are the Future of Environmentalism
FoGP Diversity Scholarships were established in 2021 and are awarded to students who demonstrate academic excellence and a desire to become environmental...
Earth Day Planting Comes Off Without a Hitch
The Bird Sanctuary missed out on volunteer efforts for several years due to Covid restrictions so Friends of Griffith Park decided it was high time to...
Shuttered?
"Some things never change," as they say. In Griffith Park, often that's a very good thing. Two important Griffith Park amenities have been shuttered,...
Restoring the Fern Dell Pedestrian Bridge
Friends of Griffith Park constantly marvels at the number of individuals willing to pitch in to create a better, safer space for all Park users....
Changes in Alcohol Policies May Have an Adverse Effect on Park Users
Griffith Park is a unique resource that welcomes folks from across the LA community (and beyond) to safely enjoy picnic areas, the Observatory,...
Griffith Reporter Winter 2022-23
Read or download the Winter 2023 edition of the Griffith Reporter PDF. DOWNLOAD PDF
The Many Roles of Travel Town: Griffith Park Internment Camp
Like a good character actor, Travel Town has played many different roles throughout its existence in Griffith Park. And like any good character actor, it is...
Urban Woodpecker Granaries in Griffith Park
Red-shouldered Hawk, R.I.P.
During the L.A. Raptor Study 2022 nesting season, we were once again reminded that rat poisons (rodenticides) don't just kill rats; they are also effective...
Urban Raptors Surviving on the Streets: the Los Angeles Raptor Study
Highlights of the Los Angeles Raptor Study 2022
Background Launched as the "Griffith Park Raptor Survey" in 2017, we renamed our effort the "Los Angeles Raptor Study" in 2021 to reflect the larger current...
Bee Rock Trail Renewed
"The Bee Rock Trail Restoration has been a wonderful project, and the transformation of the trail has been greeted with genuine praise and gratitude from avid...
FoGP scholarship 2022 recipients; fostering the next generation of environment stewards
Memories of Bernadette Soter
"Bernadette leaves behind a legacy of activism in the Park. She inspired many members of Friends of Griffith Park who continue to carry on her vision." ~...
Jorge Ochoa Discusses the Intricacies of Griffith Park’s Flora and Fauna
There's a vast, amazing natural world in Griffith Park and Long Beach Community College professor Jorge Ochoa spells out the various flora and fauna...
L.A. Zoo Speaks with Forked Tongue
Imagine a quiet hilltop in Griffith Park. In these native woodlands of 16.1 acres, live coast live oaks, toyons, California black walnut trees and stands of...
Transportation Plan Presentation at GPAB
The July 28 GPAB meeting included a presentation from Kimbly>Horn, the team tasked with redesigning Crystal Springs/Griffith Park Drives in order to make...
Digging With LA Compost
Seven months ago, Michael Martinez' grand endeavor to spur the city of Los Angeles to locally recycle its food scraps added one more to its growing network of...
Wildness in the Metropolitan Area: A Dream in Search of a Plan
Griffith Reporter Summer/Fall 2022
Read or download the Summer/Fall 2022 edition of the Griffith Reporter PDF. DOWNLOAD PDF
L.A’s Urban Bats Fill the Night Sky
This year, FoGP is helping fund a project that will shed a light on one of the most unfairly maligned creatures around — our urban bats. "I like animals that...
Griffith Park’s First Ecologist
Courtney McCammon has a sparkling personality. Discussing her new position as L.A. Recreation and Parks' first ever ecologist, Courtney was enthusiastic about...
Restoring Bee Rock Trail
The hiking trails of every wilderness park in the world are critical in safeguarding the long-term relationship between humans and nature. Their proper...
A Micro-forest for Griffith Park
Thanks to support from the Hancock Park Garden Club, the Bette Davis Picnic Area of Griffith Park is becoming home to a new native Micro-Forest as part of the...
A Green Ring for Los Angeles
Sometimes moving forward requires a long look back and deciding whether the path we're on is the best path for the future. When Spanish colonists first...
An Appreciation of P-22
Ten years ago in 2012, when mountain lion P-22 was discovered haunting the hills of Griffith Park, this wasn't just another example of nature seeping through...
The Role Park Rangers Play in City Parklands
To understand the role played by Park Rangers over time in Griffith Park, I turned to Mike Eberts' Griffith Park: A Centennial History. I learned that long...
Toyon: Griffith Park Lost and Found
Motorists on the 134 freeway have seen the oddly-terraced hillside that is in Griffith Park, but does not appear to be part of it. Hikers, runners and...
A Brief History of the Failed Griffith Park Master Plan(s)
Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States : larger than the City of Beverly Hills. Yet, with 2022 about to begin, there is no...
