Ary Amaya is 27 acres into an Indigenous-led reforestation of L.A. She’s far from done

By Madeline Adamo
UCLA Newsroom
April 22, 2024

Ary Amaya barely squints as she stands awash in the midmorning glare, which reflects off the dew clinging to the tall grasses that carpet the ground. Anchoring herself on a dirt path that crests a large hill, she scans the descending slope covered in walnut, toyon, oak and elderberry trees.

The double Bruin, now in the final year of her master’s program in ecology and evolutional biology, knows the land well. She explains how the trees, some of which she and her research team have planted, make up a “food forest” — a collection of plants and trees she says are culturally significant to the Indigenous peoples who are the stewards and keepers of the land.

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