Topanga State Park & Will Rogers State Historic Park Recovery Planning
Following the January 2025 firestorms, California State Parks has implemented a multiprong strategy to repair and recover from the fire's impacts, while building wildfire resilience across the park lands in the Santa Monica Mountains. Through thoughtful planning and coordinated projects, State Parks is working to reduce risk and improve resilience. Working together, we can foster a landscape that is safe, welcoming, and healthy in the face of climate stressors.
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Read more about the actions completed and underway in the parks. Learn about what’s involved in recovery and what State Parks has been hard at work on.
State Parks worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to safely remove more than 300 hazardous trees destroyed in the Palisades Fire, and a contractor trimmed 100 trees covering 60 acres. State Parks is also replanting dozens of trees to replace historic tree lines and provide shade around Will Rogers SHP.
State Parks has partnered with the National Park Service vegetation crews to conduct targeted invasive species control along primary travel routes and drainage lines across the eastern half of Topanga State Park. This work treated approximately 250 acres across 15 linear miles.
State Parks is actively creating defensible space around its facilities and collaborating with state and local agencies and nearby communities to enhance defensible space on adjacent lands. In late spring 2025, State Parks coordinated with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) on a large-scale vegetation clearance at the boundary of Topanga State Park, creating a functional vegetated fuel break covering 42 acres around Palisades homes while retaining recovering chaparral shrubs and trees.
Heavy rains on a post-fire landscape eroded soil and rocks into culverts, blocking them and filling debris basins. State Parks has cleared debris basins, installed wattle, and removed dirt at culverts to restore stormwater drainage.
At Will Rogers SHP, State Parks installed a new restroom building. The main electrical panel that served the park was destroyed in the fire, and the park is operating using generators. Once electrical updates are completed, the park will be reconnected to the grid through temporary power poles, which have been installed.
Many trails in both parks were damaged or destroyed by the fire. For damaged trails, State Parks is assessing conditions, addressing issues, and reopening the trails when they are safe for public use. Destroyed trails must be rebuilt before they can be reopened.
In 2025, State Parks’ Angeles District updated its approach to engaging homeowners and communities in fuel modifications on park boundaries, adopting a more approachable and neighborly tone while making information on the Boundary Vegetation Right of Entry permit process clearer for residents. The permits empower residents with adjacent property to park land to expand their defensible space.
On Dec. 6, 2025, State Parks hosted the USC CLEAN Soil testing program at Will Rogers SHP. Community members will be able to have their residential property soil tested by USC and activities will provide education about soil recovery post-Palisades Fire.
State Parks held its first public volunteer event since reopening Will Rogers SHP to the public. On Nov. 18, the park hosted the Ford Bronco Wild Fund and 23 participants for a day of volunteer activities including a “pull and plant” project to remove and replace invasive fuels, as well as restore safety fencing in the park.
As we begin planning the next steps in recovery, we will explore important questions for the long-term future of these two special parks.
Throughout 2026, exploring these questions and more will shape next steps in recovery and building toward a more resilient future.
