Photo Gallery: Cottonwood Canyon, a wildlife refuge with year-round natural spring flowing

In a nondescript hilly area south of the 210 freeway and west of the Brookside Golf and Country Club on Linda Vista Ave., there is Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge with a natural year-round spring, that was purchased by the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Above, from left to right are AFC CEO John Howell, board chair Katie Poole, program and lands administrator Tim Martinez and biology adviser Mickey Long.  (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

In a nondescript hilly area south of the 210 freeway and west of the Brookside Golf and Country Club on Linda Vista Ave., there is Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge with a natural year-round spring, that was purchased by the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.  (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy program and lands administrator Tim Martinez drinks from a natural spring at Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge with a natural year-round spring, that was purchased by the AFC, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.  (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

`Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy program and lands administrator Tim Martinez heads back down the hillside from a natural spring at Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge with a natural year-round spring, that was purchased by the AFC, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.

Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy biology adviser Mickey Long looks over a small fig plans growing near a natural year-round spring at Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge, that was purchased by the AFC, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.  (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

In a nondescript hilly area south of the 210 freeway and west of the Brookside Golf and Country Club on Linda Vista Ave., there is Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge with a natural year-round spring, that was purchased by the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018. A small creek runs down the hillside from the natural spring where animals of all types find refuge and quench their thirst.  (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy program and lands administrator Tim Martinez drinks from a natural year-round spring, where a pipe was pushed into the hillside over one hundred years ago to keep it flowing, at Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge that was purchased by the AFC, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.  (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

In a nondescript hilly area south of the 210 freeway and west of the Brookside Golf and Country Club on Linda Vista Ave., there is Cottonwood Canyon, a small wildlife refuge with a natural year-round spring, that was purchased by the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, in Pasadena on Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Above, poison oak grows wild throughout the area,  (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)