Did you know that hundreds of plant and animal species reside in the Hollywood Hills and Griffith Park areas? With support from the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and researchers from the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM), the LA Phil has spent nearly two decades documenting the flora and fauna that call the Bowl’s 88-acre park home. 

The 2026 Hollywood Bowl season marks the 16th year of the partnership between the Bowl and RCDSMM to conduct a series of biotic surveys, taking inventory of all the living things on these grounds. The first of the surveys was commissioned in 2010 by Mark Ladd—Director of Operations at the Bowl and its county-appointed Superintendent—and over time, they have created a long-term ecological record of how species come and go.   

Leading the fieldwork are Principal Conservation Biologist Dan Cooper and Conservation Biologist Technician Isaac Yelchin. Every month, they roam the property in hiking boots, sunglasses, and baseball caps with binoculars, notepads, and phone cameras to record their findings. On any given day, they might come across leaping Western fence lizards, grazing mule deer, zipping hummingbirds, and a multitude of thriving native plants.  

By placing hidden, motion-activated cameras in the more remote areas of the park, Cooper and Yelchin can also monitor animal activity away from human disturbance. A bobcat taking a nighttime prowl, California thrashers flitting through the branches, and even a coyote curling up for a morning nap in the shade—it’s all caught on camera. Check out a few highlights below, and learn more about how we're monitoring the Bowl’s plant and animal life here.