Dustin Herrmann
@rustbeltecology.bsky.social
Director of Research at TreePeople, a SoCal nonprofit || Urban ecosystem ecology, environmental health, climate resilience, soil and water management
Where do we go from here, Los Angeles?
That is the question of a new hybrid short course from TreePeople I am leading titled Climate Gardening 101.
First class is February 15th
Learn more and apply here: treepeople.org/climate-gardening-101/
That is the question of a new hybrid short course from TreePeople I am leading titled Climate Gardening 101.
First class is February 15th
Learn more and apply here: treepeople.org/climate-gardening-101/
January 16, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Where do we go from here, Los Angeles?
That is the question of a new hybrid short course from TreePeople I am leading titled Climate Gardening 101.
First class is February 15th
Learn more and apply here: treepeople.org/climate-gardening-101/
That is the question of a new hybrid short course from TreePeople I am leading titled Climate Gardening 101.
First class is February 15th
Learn more and apply here: treepeople.org/climate-gardening-101/
Simple technologies are critical to wildfire resilience.
My home doesn't have an HVAC system to cycle and filter the air, so my indoor air quality solution during the LA fire siege is a filter duct taped to a box fan.
My home doesn't have an HVAC system to cycle and filter the air, so my indoor air quality solution during the LA fire siege is a filter duct taped to a box fan.
January 12, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Simple technologies are critical to wildfire resilience.
My home doesn't have an HVAC system to cycle and filter the air, so my indoor air quality solution during the LA fire siege is a filter duct taped to a box fan.
My home doesn't have an HVAC system to cycle and filter the air, so my indoor air quality solution during the LA fire siege is a filter duct taped to a box fan.
Orange sky over Santa Monica this morning
January 11, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Orange sky over Santa Monica this morning
An Altadena adjacent house now up about $5k from its listing 6 months ago
January 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
An Altadena adjacent house now up about $5k from its listing 6 months ago
One in the Palisades up almost $10k over last spring
January 11, 2025 at 2:58 PM
One in the Palisades up almost $10k over last spring
Here's another one the evacuation boundary up 43% over two months
January 11, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Here's another one the evacuation boundary up 43% over two months
Rent increase yoy of 120%, <$13k to $28k, on this house just a few miles from the Palisades. Los Angeles housing inaffordability is going from ridiculous to only for the global elite overnight.
January 11, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Rent increase yoy of 120%, <$13k to $28k, on this house just a few miles from the Palisades. Los Angeles housing inaffordability is going from ridiculous to only for the global elite overnight.
I am using the diurnal shifts in wind direction to plan outdoor activity for the windows when we are not downwind of the fires. It curently creates 100+ point shifts in AQI between the morning and afternoon.
January 10, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I am using the diurnal shifts in wind direction to plan outdoor activity for the windows when we are not downwind of the fires. It curently creates 100+ point shifts in AQI between the morning and afternoon.
Smoke from the #EatonFire and #PalisadesFire converging over Santa Monica this morning
January 8, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Smoke from the #EatonFire and #PalisadesFire converging over Santa Monica this morning
Black sky at morning, Earth sailors take warning
January 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Black sky at morning, Earth sailors take warning
Urban wildfire-housing scarcity nexus already in action. This house being offered for rent in Venice, a few miles south of the ##PalisadesFire, raised its asking price by $7k today
January 8, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Urban wildfire-housing scarcity nexus already in action. This house being offered for rent in Venice, a few miles south of the ##PalisadesFire, raised its asking price by $7k today
My first time being able to see a wildfire from my home. Climbed up on the apartment building roof and watched these enormous flames (picture doesn't capture them well) and this surreal sunset. #PalisadesFire
January 8, 2025 at 12:19 AM
My first time being able to see a wildfire from my home. Climbed up on the apartment building roof and watched these enormous flames (picture doesn't capture them well) and this surreal sunset. #PalisadesFire
January 7, 2025 at 3:34 PM
After having about a drink a day for over a decade, two years ago, I tried Dry January. I enjoyed the results so much I kept going in February. I haven't looked back and consider cutting alcohol out of my life one of my best choices ever.
January 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
After having about a drink a day for over a decade, two years ago, I tried Dry January. I enjoyed the results so much I kept going in February. I haven't looked back and consider cutting alcohol out of my life one of my best choices ever.
Lawns are short-statured grasslands that can store a lot of carbon in the soil.
For example, this rough, sparsely irrigated, C4 grass dominated lawn in a right-of-way, it has organic matter rich surface horizons formed to ~1' deep and the subsoil had OM that had translocated with clay particles.
For example, this rough, sparsely irrigated, C4 grass dominated lawn in a right-of-way, it has organic matter rich surface horizons formed to ~1' deep and the subsoil had OM that had translocated with clay particles.
December 21, 2024 at 2:11 PM
Lawns are short-statured grasslands that can store a lot of carbon in the soil.
For example, this rough, sparsely irrigated, C4 grass dominated lawn in a right-of-way, it has organic matter rich surface horizons formed to ~1' deep and the subsoil had OM that had translocated with clay particles.
For example, this rough, sparsely irrigated, C4 grass dominated lawn in a right-of-way, it has organic matter rich surface horizons formed to ~1' deep and the subsoil had OM that had translocated with clay particles.
Artificial turf has been growing a well-deserved bad rap. Surprised/not surprised to see Trust for Public Land helping the industry recover its reputation. This stuff is a runaway freight train of a social-environmental nightmare. Grow real grass.
December 17, 2024 at 3:54 AM
Artificial turf has been growing a well-deserved bad rap. Surprised/not surprised to see Trust for Public Land helping the industry recover its reputation. This stuff is a runaway freight train of a social-environmental nightmare. Grow real grass.
Research is a verb. And the communities we work in respect those whose labor is physical. Seeing us with calluses and boots has done more to open up dialogue than any ideas we may have.
December 15, 2024 at 10:03 PM
Research is a verb. And the communities we work in respect those whose labor is physical. Seeing us with calluses and boots has done more to open up dialogue than any ideas we may have.
TreePeople gives an annual work boot buying credit for those that need them. My first year, the Research Dept. did not make the cut and I made it a mission to change that. Now we are part of the boot needing crew. My next challenge is getting Research to require it's own serious work pickup truck.
December 15, 2024 at 9:55 PM
TreePeople gives an annual work boot buying credit for those that need them. My first year, the Research Dept. did not make the cut and I made it a mission to change that. Now we are part of the boot needing crew. My next challenge is getting Research to require it's own serious work pickup truck.
End of an Eras tour. But I wonder if this global phenomenon will live on in landfills and act as a Cesium-137-esque marker in the archeological record of the Anthropocene.
December 14, 2024 at 2:51 PM
End of an Eras tour. But I wonder if this global phenomenon will live on in landfills and act as a Cesium-137-esque marker in the archeological record of the Anthropocene.
Look at the beautiful manganese lines following the soil root pathways.
This redoximorphic feature indicates repeated short term inundation of the soil.
We found them starting at ~40 cm in urban soils of the lower Los Angeles River watershed
This redoximorphic feature indicates repeated short term inundation of the soil.
We found them starting at ~40 cm in urban soils of the lower Los Angeles River watershed
December 12, 2024 at 3:21 PM
Look at the beautiful manganese lines following the soil root pathways.
This redoximorphic feature indicates repeated short term inundation of the soil.
We found them starting at ~40 cm in urban soils of the lower Los Angeles River watershed
This redoximorphic feature indicates repeated short term inundation of the soil.
We found them starting at ~40 cm in urban soils of the lower Los Angeles River watershed
Hey hey soil hydrologists check out these mini disk infiltrometers tricked out with pressure transducers
December 11, 2024 at 12:50 AM
Hey hey soil hydrologists check out these mini disk infiltrometers tricked out with pressure transducers
Spending a few billion dollars like it's easy to get more
December 10, 2024 at 3:07 PM
Spending a few billion dollars like it's easy to get more
Sundays. Slow down, eat pancakes, play baseball.
December 8, 2024 at 5:43 PM
Sundays. Slow down, eat pancakes, play baseball.
My 10 yo says playing video game baseball is slightly more fun than playing real baseball. I wonder if pro athletes feel the same about their sport.
December 7, 2024 at 6:26 PM
My 10 yo says playing video game baseball is slightly more fun than playing real baseball. I wonder if pro athletes feel the same about their sport.
Digging more soil pits in Greater Los Angeles and collecting monoliths by horizon. It is so rare to have deep and detailed urban soil observations and even more rare in the public right of way.
December 5, 2024 at 12:13 AM
Digging more soil pits in Greater Los Angeles and collecting monoliths by horizon. It is so rare to have deep and detailed urban soil observations and even more rare in the public right of way.