Burn Plan Fizzles, So Tumbleweeds May Face Mowers : Antelope Valley: The assault on the wayward Russian thistles comes after windstorms sent piles of them rolling up against homes and into farmers’ fields.

Seeking to snuff out a smoldering controversy, Los Angeles County agriculture officials said Thursday that they are reconsidering plans to burn up to 2,700 acres of tumbleweeds in the Antelope Valley.

Instead, they may mash the wandering weeds with giant mowers.

The move came after high desert farmers and others gave the burning plan--the first of its kind in the county for tumbleweeds--a lukewarm reception at a public hearing in Lancaster last week. Some residents, concerned that the burning would worsen erosion problems, suggested mowing as an alternative.

County agriculture officials will now have time to consider their options. The Board of Supervisors was supposed to approve tumbleweed clearance orders for about 424 Antelope Valley parcels Thursday. But the meeting was canceled for lack of a quorum, and the issue was rescheduled for Dec. 6.

Cato Fiksdal, a deputy director in the county agricultural commissioner’s office, acknowledged the community concerns about burning and erosion. He said the county in the meantime may try a test mowing of some tumbleweeds to see if that might work instead of burning.

Earlier this year, county officials began planning their largest-ever assault on the Antelope Valley’s bumper crop of the wayward weeds after a series of windstorms sent vast piles of them rolling up against area homes and into farmers’ fields.

Fiksdal said county officials opted for burning because they were told the tumbleweeds were too large to be removed with bush hogs, large tractor-sized mowing devices, or giant flail mowers, which beat the weeds into a mulch. Last week, however, some farmers insisted the mowers would work.

The burning plan--although endorsed by county agriculture, fire and air pollution officials--brought complaints from some residents and farmers who feared that it would strip the soil and leave it vulnerable to erosion. Sandstorms already are a major problem in the Antelope Valley.

Under either the burning or the mowing approach, the county plans to issue abatement orders to parcels with some of the thickest tumbleweed growth in the high desert. Owners would have to remove the weeds, or pay the county for the work. The county’s burning was expected to cost $100 to $150 per acre.