The sun sets behind a tall pine on a hilltop slope, lighting shrubs and open woodland in gold above rolling forested hills.
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Woodland Hilltop Arbory

Near historic downtown Murphys, CA

Work at this site

Sunset from the hilltop. Photo: DeepForest

Overview

A 22-acre hilltop next to historic downtown Murphys. This land was oak and pine forest until being likely clear-cut during gold rush era mining that ended around 1910. The land grew back largely untouched for generations into a fire-prone thicket of manzanita and toyon. DeepForest has been restoring it toward a mixed pine and oak woodland, with contour swales, targeted thinning, native wildflower seeding, and new access trails and a road so far.

The hilltop was probably cut clear of its trees and mined for gold until about 1910, and old mine ditches remain on the land. The oak and pine woodland never came back on its own. Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) and toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), tough evergreen shrubs of California’s dry hillsides, grew up in its place, and after more than a century without management they had tangled into a thicket dense enough to be a serious fire risk for the town. Here, as across the foothills, nearly all the rain falls in winter and summers are long, hot and dry. In 2022 the previous owners had the brush ground into wood chips, and DeepForest began working with the land in September 2024.

The work now is turning the hillside back toward a woodland of native pines and oaks suited to hot, dry summers and to fire. We prune oaks sprouting from old stumps so they grow as trees, leave young pines to outgrow the shrubs, and thin brush so the trees that remain have room. We are working to slow water flow and plant native species as we shape growth and explore how to measure, monitor, and take action using robotics and AI approaches.

Change over time

Seasons and Time

The same views photographed months apart. Drag the divider to compare.

Late-summer view from the hilltop: dry golden grass and scattered shrubs on bare, debris-strewn ground, with a tall pine and oaks against forested hills. September 2024
The same hilltop view the following spring: the slope is covered in green shrubs and young oaks around the same tall pine. May 2025
The same view from the hilltop, framed on the same tall pine, the month DeepForest bought the land and the following spring. Much of this difference is the season, not only the restoration. Photos: DeepForest
Looking out from the hilltop in September 2024 over tall pines and dense oak woodland toward a vineyard and rolling forested ridges under a cloudy sky. September 2024
The same view in January 2026: the same tall pines in front stand with more open space around them, above the vineyard and the forested ridges beyond. January 2026
Out over the valley from the hilltop, the month DeepForest bought the land and sixteen months later, lined up on the far ridges and the same tall pines. Photos: DeepForest
A pair of tall, thin pines above dry grass and low shrubs in September, with oak and pine woodland and hills beyond under a cloudy sky. September 2024
The same pair of pines the following March, with fresh green growth around them under a blue sky. March 2025
Two tall pines on the hilltop at the end of the dry season and after the first winter's rains. Photos: DeepForest
Recent

Field journal

All 11 entries

Field journal entries from this site as the work happens, newest first.

  • At night, a black-and-white skunk with its bushy tail raised stands in short green grass beside a dirt track, lit by a bright beam, with its shadow on the track behind it. +1 photo

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Two skunks on a November night

    Two skunks crossed a grassy track on the hilltop at Woodland Hilltop Arbory at about 8:20 pm on November 21, 2025, caught in the beam of a…

  • A small plant with deep blue, bell-shaped flowers and round, toothed gray-green leaves grows from bare reddish soil, with a shaded path behind it.

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Seed-mix wildflowers on bare ground

    One of the native wildflowers from the seed mix we sowed at Woodland Hilltop Arbory, in bloom on bare ground beside a path in mid-June. We…

  • Small yellow-and-white tidy tips and pale blue baby blue eyes flowers grow among flat stones lining a shallow swale. +1 photo

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Wildflowers in the swales

    Tidy tips (Layia platyglossa) and baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) are blooming in one of the rock-lined contour swales at Woodland…

  • A single spike of deep blue-and-white lupine flowers rises from wood-chip mulch, with young lupine leaves at its base and blurred green shrubs and trees behind. +2 photos

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Lupine through the wood-chip mulch

    Lupine (Lupinus sp.) was flowering through the wood-chip mulch at Woodland Hilltop Arbory on April 6, 2025, among low, leafy shrubs, on…

  • Seen from a drone flying low over a hilltop, two tall pines and an oak stand at the edge of a slope of wood-chip mulch and low gray-green plants, with wooded ridges and wispy clouds beyond. +1 photo

    · Woodland Hilltop

    A low drone pass over the mulched hilltop

    On the afternoon of March 23, 2025, we flew a small drone low over the top of Woodland Hilltop Arbory, skimming the masticated ground.…

  • A gloved hand holds a smooth brown acorn topped by a thick, golden, fuzzy cup, with yellow dust on the glove's fingers and leaf litter and wood chips on the ground below.

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Golden-cupped acorn on the hilltop

    An acorn with a thick, golden, felted cup, held in a work glove at Woodland Hilltop Arbory on October 28. Yellow dust, probably fuzz from…

  • The Milky Way runs up a starry night sky above dark silhouettes of oaks and pines, with a faint pale glow and a few small lights along the horizon. +1 photo

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Milky Way over the hilltop

    On a clear night at Woodland Hilltop Arbory, around 9 pm on September 29, the Milky Way stood over the oaks and pines on the hilltop, with…

  • Aerial view across a hilltop slope of pale wood-chip mulch and dry grass dotted with small green shrubs, among gray-green pines and darker oaks, with forested hills and a distant ridge beyond. +1 photo

    · Woodland Hilltop

    The hilltop from the air in late summer

    We flew a drone over Woodland Hilltop Arbory on the afternoon of September 22, 2024, at the end of the dry season. From above,…

  • A small quadcopter drone hovers in a clear blue sky above oaks and pines at the top of a hill, with low shrubs and wood-chip mulch on the slope below.

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Drone flight over the hilltop

    A drone in the air over Woodland Hilltop Arbory on the afternoon of September 21, hovering above the oaks and pines near the top of the…

  • A leafy shrub with long, finely toothed leaves and reddish stems holds several dense clusters of small, hard green berries, with tall pines and a cloudy sky behind. +1 photo

    · Woodland Hilltop

    Toyon heavy with green berries

    Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) on the slopes of Woodland Hilltop Arbory was hung with heavy clusters of hard green berries on the morning…

Media

Video and photos from this site.

Video + drone footage

Circling the hilltop at dusk, April 12, 2025.

Photos

  • Aerial view at dusk over a hilltop of pale, rocky ground dotted with young oaks and low shrubs, with taller pines along its edge and forested hills rising behind under a pale pink sky. The hilltop at dusk.
  • Purple lupine blooms across a green hillside below an oak and a gray-barked snag, looking out over a forested valley to distant hills. Lupine on the hilltop.
  • A tall toyon shrub hung with dense clusters of bright red berries stands at the edge of a mulched slope, with oaks and a pine against an overcast sky behind it. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) heavy with red berries on the hilltop in late autumn.
  • A newly dug, stone-lined swale curves across a hillside below young oaks, with a sunset sky over distant hills and valley. New swale at sunset.
  • Yellow, white-tipped daisy-like flowers and pale blue cup-shaped flowers grow among gray-green leaves between flat tan stones lining a shallow channel on a slope. Tidy tips (Layia platyglossa) and baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) in a rock-lined swale in spring.
  • Seen from ground level, a young oak's bright orange-red lobed leaves spread over a mulch of wood chips, pine needles and dry oak leaves, with oaks and a tall pine under a deep blue sky beyond. A young oak turns orange-red above the mulch in autumn.
  • A freshly dug contour swale of red soil and flat rock runs across a slope, with oaks, open woodland and a distant valley behind. Rock-armored contour swale.
  • Backlit smoke from a pile burn drifts through open oak woodland, with the sun and a jet contrail in a hazy sky above and cut branches on the ground in front. Smoke from pile burns drifting through the oak woodland in winter.
  • Bright orange California poppies with feathery blue-green leaves, among small purple wildflowers and dry grass. California poppies.
  • From a mulched slope, oaks and pines frame a view across wooded foothills toward distant ridges, with a band of golden light on the horizon beneath heavy gray clouds. Golden light under heavy clouds over the foothills, seen from the hilltop.
  • A gloved hand holds up a long, slender pine cone against a blue sky above an open slope. Sugar pine cone.
  • A dense mass of pink, magenta and salmon wildflowers fills the frame on thin green stems, with a few small yellow and orange blossoms mixed in. Clarkias (Clarkia sp.) in dense bloom in late spring.
  • A channel lined with flat, stacked stones runs down through reddish soil and wood chips on a hillside, with low shrubs on the slope above and someone standing at the top of the frame. Rock-lined spillway.
  • A young pine seedling grows among low, gray-green leafy plants on a mulched slope. Pine seedling on a mulched slope.
  • Open oak and pine woodland on a hilltop with a floor of leaf litter and woody debris, under a clear blue sky. Open oak and pine woodland in fall.
  • Aerial view looking down on a hillside of oaks, pines and shrubs with open, cleared ground between them. Hilltop woodland from the air.
  • Pale blue, cup-shaped baby blue eyes flowers with white centers scattered across low green growth and wood mulch. Baby blue eyes.
  • Close aerial view of a dense patch of blue-purple lupine flowers spreading over a rocky slope, with green shrubs and oak branches behind. Lupine in bloom.
  • Looking up a tall, straight pine with a furrowed reddish-brown trunk and a wispy gray-green crown, framed by leaning oaks against a blue sky with thin clouds, above mulched ground and shrubs with red berries. A tall, straight pine rises among oaks in early winter.
  • An open palm holds a small mushroom cap gills-up, its fine, crowded brown gills radiating from a pale center to a wavy, rust-edged rim. The gills of a small mushroom, turned up in an open palm in early winter.
  • A dark brown acorn topped by a thick, golden, fuzzy cup rests on a pale fractured rock streaked with orange. A canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) acorn with its golden, fuzzy cup.
  • Smoke rises from a burning slash pile of charred logs and gray ash, with orange flames at right, one pine cone resting on a log and another in the ash in the foreground. A slash pile smolders during a winter pile burn, with pine cones in the ash.
  • A thick gray trunk with blocky, checkered bark lies across the woodland floor among its branches, dry brown leaves and a few green shrubs. A downed tree trunk and its branches on the woodland floor.
  • Hairy, palm-shaped young lupine leaves with purple-tinged stems spread among round pale-green leaves and tiny succulent seedlings on the ground. Young lupine (Lupinus sp.) leaves among other spring seedlings.
  • A large, dense-crowned oak stands at the top of a slope covered in purple lupine and bright green shrubs, with tall pines to the right under a blue sky with thin clouds. An oak above a lupine-covered slope in spring.
  • A charred log, its surface cracked into squares like alligator skin, lies on a slope of blackened wood below green oaks and a blue sky. A charred log on burned ground beneath oaks.
  • A bright moon and scattered stars shine in a deep blue night sky above dark tree silhouettes, with a forested valley, faint distant ridges and a few tiny lights below. Moonlight over the foothill valley, with trees in silhouette.
  • Close view of black, cracked chunks of char heaped on the ground, with dry branches and fallen leaves at left and sunlit green trees blurred behind. Chunks of char on a pile in early summer.
  • A small plant with deep blue, bell-shaped flowers and round, toothed gray-green leaves grows from bare red soil, with more blue blooms at lower right and a shaded, blurred background. Blue phacelia (Phacelia sp.) in bloom on bare red soil in early summer.
  • Close-up of a dense cluster of papery, cream-colored everlasting flower heads with brown centers, growing up through ground covered in wood chips and dry branches. Papery everlasting flower heads above mulched ground in late summer.
  • A lone pine with long tufted needles and a few widely spreading branches stands dark against a clear blue sky, above a dense green shrub canopy, with distant wooded hills at the lower left. A lone pine against a clear autumn sky.
  • Low sun lights a steep hillside of reddish soil and low groundcover dotted with scattered oaks and tall pines along the ridge, above a band of dense green shrubs and oaks under a blue sky with clouds. Scattered oaks and pines along an open hillside in low autumn sun.
  • A slender oak leans over a mulched slope with low gray-green shrubs, set against billowing white and gray clouds above a wooded valley in autumn color, with a thin plume of white smoke rising on the far horizon. An oak against billowing clouds above the wooded valley in autumn.
  • An open palm holds a single pine seed with its short papery wing, above a carpet of fallen pine needles and twigs, with a pine cone at the lower right. A winged pine seed held above the needle litter in fall.
Site access

Work at Woodland Hilltop Arbory

A 22-acre hilltop next to town, where a thicket of manzanita and toyon is being turned back toward pine and oak woodland, suits restoration monitoring, repeat drone mapping, tests of swales and native seed on bare ground, and low-cost soil sensing trials. Tell us what you'd like to try.

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