It is with heavy hearts that we honor the life and contributions of our dear friend and board member, Betsy Vanleit, who passed away on January 8. Betsy was a dedicated community leader, a passionate environmental advocate, an inspiring mentor, and a true force for good. She devoted her time and energy to organizations across the Ojai Valley, including the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, Ojai Trees, and HELP of Ojai. Her absence leaves a profound void—not only within our organization, but throughout our entire community.

Parkway Preserve has the potential to become a thriving native ecosystem within the industrial stretch of north Ventura Avenue. This transformation requires repurposing the 22-acre parcel into a space that both protects and enhances the surrounding community. Before OVLC took ownership, the site had been used as a dumping ground for construction materials. While that is no longer the case, the land remains overrun with invasive plants. By clearing the property down to bare earth, then grading and recontouring it, we can shape the landscape to welcome seasonal flooding whenever Cañada Larga Creek overflows.

Fire has consistently shaped and driven ecological processes for millions of years. We observe this first in charcoalified plants in the late Silurian, about 425 million years ago, which record some of the first forest fires on the planet. Fast forward to the early Cretaceous, 145 million years ago, continuous fire aided in the diversification of early angiosperms, which quickly adapted. More recently in the late Pliocene, around 3 million years ago, uplift in California established a mediterranean climate, with wet winters and dry summers. Oak woodlands and associated sclerophyllous vegetation began to dominate Southern California, including the establishment of chaparral and coastal sage scrub ecosystems following the last glacial maximum, 20,000 years ago.