Rising From the Ashes : Spring Rain, Time Renew Life at Site of Palomar Blaze

Spring rains and time have combined to cover with greenery and a blaze of wildflowers some of the scars that a tenacious October fire left on Palomar Mountain.

Kahanah Farnsworth, a teacher at Palomar Mountain Camp, said wildflowers are in full bloom, softening the stark landscape of charred stumps and blackened ground.

Buttercups, lupine, clusters of white yarrow, pinkish-purple henbit and filaree are out in profusion, she said. “We’ve not seen so many flowers as there are this year in a long time.”

Earlier this spring, federal forestry workers began the long-term task of reseeding the slopes denuded by the 10-day brush fire.

Ron Wyochak, a U.S. Forest Service wildlife biologist and timber-management specialist, said 7,000 fir seedlings were planted this spring, many by civilian volunteers.

But the reforestation restored fewer than 20 of the more than 2,000 acres blackened by the stubborn blaze.

Wyochak said the planting, done in March around the Fry Creek Campground, was of 6- to 8-inch Coulter pine, white fir and incense cedar trees.

“We had a lot of volunteers, especially Scouts who earned merit badges for their effort,” Wyochak said. California Conservation Corps members also helped.

The Forest Service plans to plant 8,000 to 10,000 seedlings a year as fast as they can be grown at the agency’s nurseries, Wyochak said. National park regulations require that all new stock must be native plants grown from local seeds, he said. Palomar Mountain is part of the Cleveland National Forest.