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FOOL’S GOLD 
May 30, 2025 0 79  
California Mustard: Beauty or Bane 
Suzanne Guldimann, May 30, 2025 0  
A beautiful but unwelcome tide of golden blossom is sweeping over the Santa Monica Mountains this year. The late—and light—rainy season has resulted in few native wildflowers but an abundance of mustard, an opportunistic invasive that thrives even in...
TREES IN BLOOM 
Suzanne Guldimann, April 18, 2025 0  
This isn’t one of those springs when the hills are covered in a vivid profusion of wildflowers. The Santa Monica Mountains have received just a fraction of the average rainfall for the season. Hot weather is already arriving, drying...
SAVING THE COAST 
Suzanne Guldimann, April 4, 2025 0  
The Trump Administration is taking aim at the California Coastal Commission, and according to a recent New York Times article, the President may have an ally in California Governor Gavin Newsom. The Times headline states “Trump and Newsom Find...
Mission Impossible U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
Suzanne Guldimann, March 21, 2025 0  
If it’s dangerous, difficult, or downright impossible and it involves American infrastructure, disaster recovery, or water resources, there’s a good chance the US Army Corps of Engineers will be the ones called in to deal with it, sometimes with...
13 Jun 2025
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A Day at the Beach 

Suzanne Guldimann, June 28, 2024 0 13 min read  
“A little sea-bathing would set me up forever,” pronounces Mrs Bennet in Jane Austen’s 1813  novel Pride and Prejudice, expressing the desire to spend the summer at the newly fashionable seaside town of Brighton. The author wasn’t opposed to...
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TOYON 

Suzanne Guldimann, November 17, 2023 2 7 min read  
All over Topanga Canyon and throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, toyon bushes are ablaze with red fruit. Their presence is both a conservation success story and a cautionary tale, because the toyon’s beautiful red berries, so like European holly...
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By Any Other Name 

Suzanne Guldimann, June 16, 2023 0 8 min read  
A new sign was recently installed by the side of Kanan Dume Road. It reads: “Sheila James Kuehl Nature Preserve at Ladyface Mountain.” It’s not the most imaginative or descriptive name for this rugged and beautiful mountainside, but this...
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Historic Crossroad 

Saori Wall, March 24, 2023 0 6 min read  
THS Presentation Reveals Rich and Ancient History Beneath Town Center  Amazing discoveries have been made under the pavement of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Excavations reveal a record of the life lived by Topanga’s Native American residents as much as seven...