California’s eco-regulators halted a critical wildfire prevention project near Pacific Palisades to protect an endangered shrub – only for that same area to be engulfed in flames during the Palisades Fire, the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history.

But the effort came to an abrupt halt when an amateur botanist hiking through the park noticed that some of the rare Braunton’s milkvetch shrubs – an endangered species with only a few thousand wild specimens – had been damaged during the work. Conservationists raised alarms, accusing the city of working without proper permits, and California’s Coastal Commission ordered the LADWP to stop the project, replant the damaged shrubs, and pay $2 million in fines.

Fast forward to 2024: Nearly 24,000 acres – including much of Topanga Canyon – have gone up in smoke, taking with them not only homes and wildlife but the same shrubs the project was supposed to protect.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/wildfire-woes-california-regulators-halted-palisades-fire-prevention-project-save-rare