Image 1: A black bear and her cub cool off at a water hole at Sedgwick Reserve. Credit: Grant Canova-Parker
Well before the land was known as Sedgwick Reserve, the flow of water across the landscape had been altered. In the 1940s, subterranean springs in the high reaches of what is now Sedgwick Reserve were tapped to provide drinking water to free ranging cows that belonged to the Rancho de la San Francisco Cattle Company. Miles of metal pipe were laid to deliver water from the upper reaches of the ranch’s three main watersheds to the valley bottoms where water was made available to cattle in metal and cement troughs. In the 1980’s, two 8,000-gallon storage tanks were installed to store water before it was delivered to troughs up to three miles away. The Reserve is far from its ranching roots, but for decades now, Sedgwick Reserve has maintained these waterlines and documented the critical importance of the troughs and holes for wildlife. Former Sedgwick staff and current volunteer Dan Massey has been an important contributor to the maintenance of these lines and troughs.
The Lake Fire Burns One of Sedgwick Reserve’s Main Waterlines
On July 5th, 2024, the Lake Fire started at Zaca Lake. Knowing that many homes and buildings lie south of Figueroa Mountain Road, firefighters worked hard to prevent it from crossing the road, but the heat and wind proved too much. On July 6th, the fire crossed Figueroa Mountain Road and entered Sedgwick Reserve. It began its seven day descent into the Reserve burning through habitats, research sites, and infrastructure, eventually stopping less than a mile away from Sedgwick’s Ranch House. Overall, the Lake Fire burned 3,110 of Sedgwick’s 5,896 acres, as part of its 38,644 acre total.
Video 1: Time-lapse footage of a watering hole at Sedgwick before, during, and after the 2024 Lake Fire. Credit: Grant Canova-Parker
The fire also burned the Figueroa Creek Waterline, one of the two main waterlines through the property, and as a result, there was no water being brought down to two troughs, a watering hole, and a spring through the Reserve. Grant Canova-Parker, a land steward at Sedgwick who has been monitoring wildlife at the Reserve for more than a decade captured incredible footage of the fire and of wildlife returning to the empty troughs, looking for water. The waterlines were so badly burned that there was no easy way to fix it while we went through all the proper campus and insurance processes to get a full repair on the waterlines. In this case, the needs of the wildlife didn’t line up with the pace of paperwork, and Sedgwick docents and staff grew concerned about wildlife visiting these empty troughs in the intense heat of summer.
Image 2: A black bear looks for water in an empty trough at Sedgwick Reserve shortly after the Lake Fire that burned nearly 3,000 acres of the Reserve, damaging waterlines that had supplied water for wildlife for many years. Credit: Grant Canova-Parker
After sharing a video put together by Grant Canova-Parker at the 2025 docent training, a cohort of docents including Kelly McLaughlin, Tina Collins, and Lars Rabbe pledged donations to support finding a way to get water for wildlife out as soon as possible. Land steward, Angela Giordani, and her team got creative, using the donations to get a few army surplus water tenders working and installing them on a trough and a spring. There is now water back in an area of the Reserve that is otherwise quite dry. A win for wildlife! Monitoring cameras were set up through funding provided by The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) and we are happy to share that footage shows wildlife returning to and drinking from these revitalized watering sources.
While the Reserve is still undergoing official processes to determine insurance coverage, donations to this project can support general maintenance and monitoring of the Reserve’s water troughs, including internships that support students and help the Reserve track and monitor wildlife across the Reserve.
Image 3: Deer return to a revitalized spring. Credit: Grant Canova-Parker