Rain, Controversy Fall on Southland Seeding Efforts

Rain that fell over the Southland this week was welcomed by federal, state and county agencies that are seeding 55,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties burned by the recent Decker and Piuma fires.

Experts in charge of the seeding, which is intended to hold the soil in place when bigger storms arrive this winter, said the rain was not heavy enough to cause significant damage and, to the contrary, probably helped the program.

“It was just what we hoped for,” said Bill Wright, the Ventura County Fire Department’s vegetation officer. “Apart from one area in Matilija Canyon, where we had a heavy downpour of two inches, the amount was just right. We had finished seeding all 41,000 acres in Ventura County last weekend, and this rain will give the soil what it needs to sustain that seed.”

Los Angeles County was only partly through its 14,000-acre seeding operation when the rains came, but officials hope to resume helicopter seeding today.

But even as pilots fly over the blackened hillsides, dropping millions of rye grass seeds, officials are locked in debate over the merits of the $180,000 program.

“Seeding with rye grass is not productive,” said Ralph Philbrick, director of the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens. “Fire is a natural situation and permitting recovery of natural vegetation is a system that works.”

Dennis Odion, a reseeding expert who works with Philbrick, said research shows that seeding can lead to greater erosion.

“It’s well-documented that fewer chaparral shrubs return in areas that are artificially seeded,” he said.

There is even conflicting evidence on whether rye grass offers even short-term protection, Odion said.

‘No Appreciable Growth’

“There’s no appreciable growth of rye grass until 80% to 90% of the first year’s rainfall is over, so I feel the protection is not as great as proponents claim. (However), people demand that something be done, and seeding sounds logical. If I were in the position of those who are doing the seeding, I would feel the same pressures.”

Officials estimate that it is costing $77,000 to seed the 14,000 acres in Los Angeles County and more than $100,000 to seed the 41,000 acres in Ventura County. The U.S. Agriculture Department is footing half the bill. The remainder is being shared equally by the state Forestry Department and the counties.

Robert Johnson, head deputy forester of the Los Angeles County Department of Forester and Fire Warden, said that after this week’s rains, the rye grass roots should be able to quickly penetrate five or six inches into the soil.

“Ten days should provide a fairly good cover, but you’re playing with Mother Nature and she can be unpredictable,” he said.

With the native chaparral burned off, Johnson said, “we’re trying to provide a temporary cover to help break the force of the rain this winter. Within two years, the rye grass will dry out and be replaced by the new growth of chaparral. People can say they don’t like the idea of seeding with rye grass, but until someone comes up with a better way to protect the soil after fires, this is the tool the land manager has to use.”

Park Service Against It

While one federal agency is helping to finance the seeding, another that works the land next door will not permit it.

“It’s become policy in national parks that the native (vegetation) system does such an excellent job of holding soil in place after a fire that there is no need to add rye grass,” Bob Plantridge, a National Park Service forester, said.

Plantridge, based in Woodland Hills, said the national parks will not introduce exotic vegetation to new areas, and is not introducing rye grass into the Santa Monica Mountains areas that are under the service’s jurisdiction.

“There’s growing evidence that rye grass is not doing the job it’s put out to do,” he said. “And it is such an extremely high consumer of nitrogen it impoverishes the soil, so that eventually it will not support even the rye grass itself. We are allowing areas that have been burned to revegetate the natural system, which they will, because the roots of the plants that were burned are all alive and well.”