Trapped in Tar: Uncovering LA’s Ancient Plant Life

Rancho Los Alamitos presents

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Doors Open at 5:30 PM; Lecture from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

$10 per person. Free for RLA members. Free onsite parking.

Rancho Los Alamitos is celebrating plant life this month. In this talk, we wanted to zoom out and learn how our current ecosystem, especially the flora, formed into what it is today. Learn from La Brea Tar Pits and Museum post-doctoral researcher and scientist, Dr. Jessie George, as she details how ancient floras reveal a rich history of climatic and environmental change in Los Angeles and Southern California over the last several millennia. This all leads to the formation of today’s ecosystems.

What did the Los Angeles basin and its ecosystem look like thousands of years ago during the late Pleistocene? And, how do we construct that picture from the fossil record? The La Brea Tar Pits and their researchers have some of those answers. We hope you join us as we uncover the hidden history of Southern California’s ancient plant life and explore how these fossilized clues help us better understand the evolution of our modern ecosystems.

Dr. George recently received her PhD from the Department of Geography at UCLA and has an MSc in Environmental Archaeology from University College London. Her research interests and work in biogeography, paleobotany, and archaeology are focused on the interactions of plant life, climate, and fauna (including humans) across time.

Doors will open at 5:30 pm, and the lecture will start at 6 pm. Details are subject to change.

Rancho Los Alamitos is located on the ancestral and unceded land of the Gabrielino/Tongva people, who cared for this land for thousands of years and continue to do so today. Learn more by visiting gabrielinotribe.org.

Host or Publisher Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation