The Fire Ecology Trail section and all the surrounding area burned in the brush fire of October27, 1993 which swept through nearly 6,000 acres of the foothills, including approximately two-thirds of the Eaton Canyon Natural Area, and destroyed the Nature Center building.  The slopes and flats in the park continue to recover from the fire, and the plants on this trail show several ways that plants regrow afterward.  Fire has been a natural factor in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills for many thousands of years.

The Coastal Sage Scrub plant community in the San Gabriel Valley generally occurs below 1,500 feet on sloping land below the foothills.  This community of low, scrubby plants is the most endangered vegetation type in Southern California because of pressures from urbanization, flood control projects, and rock quarries.  California sagebrush is the dominant shrub, with other common associates being white sage, black sage, and flat-topped buckwheat.  Plants in this group are adapted to the hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters we have in Southern California.  Their leaves may be small, sticky, hairy, or whitish-coated, to reduce water loss, and often are fragrant.  Many species are drought-deciduous, which means they lose their leaves to reduce stress during the dry summer and fall months.

Individual plants of the Chaparral Community, which dominates