I’ve just received this photo from my wife Erin, out for a hike this afternoon in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains north of Los Angeles.

Quite a breathtaking dash of color; but doubly impressive when you consider what the same area looked like back in October last year.   I blogged at the time about the largest forest fire the region had seen for decades (HERE).  And when I was last over in March, saw no sign of any recovery in the flora department.  Here’s a reminder of what the same (or close to) patch looked like after the fire.

Note that in the recent picture you can still see the remains of burnt out branches amongst the new growth.

Animal life too is returning, evidenced by our – as yet unidentified – friend here.  He’s hard to see because he’s doing his job well.

Now, just need to keep an eye out for the return of the mountain lions……

Also of interest:

Sparks fly over study suggesting wild fires cut CO2 (The Guardian)