The Southland Firestorm: A Special Report : The Recovery : ENVIRONMENT : Planting the Right Cover Can Be Key

It’s the eternal cycle of the California hills--first the fire, then the mud.

But when choosing how to replace the vegetation lost to the flames, property owners may be able to address two problems with one plant by integrating ground cover that is both fire-retardant and erosion-controlling.

“What happens is that the soil, under normal years in dry conditions, loosens, softens and then is ready to erode if the vegetation gets burned,” said Robert Perry, a professor of landscape architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

“In the many years that these slopes have not burned, they have slowly become prone for large-scale erosion. With the burns now, there’s nothing holding a lot of this soil in place, nothing keeping it stable.”

Residents should quickly begin the process of restabilizing the land, experts advise.

The first step is to clear any debris left after the fire, said Rick Mutaw, a landscape contractor at Burkard Nurseries Inc. Burned shrubs should be trimmed but not removed; their deep roots continue to anchor the soil and allow the plant to regenerate, he said.

Next, Mutaw said, comes re-grading, or evening out the soil. Minor flaws such as depressions or holes can often be corrected with a steel landscape rake, Mutaw said, but more serious damage--such as bulldozer tracks or a firebreak cut--could require tractor work. He also suggests using a mechanized compactor so irrigation and rains won’t wash away loose soil.

Residents might consider laying jute, a fiber cover, or other types of netting available at nurseries, before planting ground cover. As the ground cover grows on top of the netting, Mutaw said, the low plants join with it to form a solid hold on the hill.

The proper vegetation depends as much on the specific plot of land as it does personal preference.

One option is encouraging the growth of indigenous plants and shrubs, which will still have seeds deep in the soil.

To encourage their growth, advises William L. Peacock, a landscape architect, water the cleared and cleaned area with a light mist for just a minute or two about three times a day for five days. After five days, bits of green plant should be visible, he said.

But Mutaw warned that native vegetation might be the very same types of plants that burned. Another option would be to integrate erosion-controlling, fire-retardant plants into the slope.

Rick Thyne, who lives near Angeles National Forest in Pasadena, watched a week ago as flames marched up his lawn toward his house and then stopped about five feet short. He attributes his good fortune, in part, to the special fire-resistant grass he planted when his house was built a year and a half ago.

“The grass ate up the fire,” Thyne said. “It’s like putting Cal-Shake (fire-resistant shingles) on your roof. You just learn how to landscape for fire-risk areas.”

Perry, of Cal Poly Pomona, favors using Hall’s honeysuckle as ground cover for both fire and erosion control on ridges and hills because of its long life and slight water demand. Another good option, he said, is common periwinkle, though it may be best to check plant choices with a landscaper or nursery to discuss the light and slope of a particular area.

But Perry cautioned that seeding should be seen as a method of preventing fire and erosion in the future, and not necessarily the current season.

“Realistically, people have to anticipate that there is going to be a significant amount of mud and debris flow with the rains,” he said. “They need to put some structural devices in place such as sandbags and other measures to divert the flow that will occur.”

For the best advice about sandbagging, he said, check with a local fire or public works department.

Within the thousands of burned acres for which government is responsible, preliminary land rehabilitation may begin when fires are contained and often while they continue to burn, state Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention officials say.

Those first steps, which include damage assessment and land re-grading, can often be best performed when burns are fresh and heavy equipment is still in the area, said Doug Forrest, a spokesman for the forestry department.

Heavy equipment tracks as well as land cuts that could erode into gullies are “feathered” to divert runoff. Bulldozers drag huge steel claws to break up fire-baked earth in preparation for seeding, and tractors then plow under brush cut by the fire.

High intensity burn areas in public and unincorporated areas could be reseeded by the state within the next few weeks, Forrest said, with a mix of native and non-native grasses. Within the Laguna burn zone, he said, the department has decided to use all native grasses.

“It’s a very controversial thing,” Forrest said. “We have to determine what the potential is for damage or life hazard for public safety. If there is little or none, the more appropriate thing is probably to do nothing--to let whatever vegetation will come back, come back.

“On the other side, where you have concentrated development areas at the mouth of watersheds, as would be the case in the Laguna and Malibu areas, over-seeding is one of the very appropriate ways to deal with potential disaster.”

Perry and others emphasize, however, that good landscaping is no panacea. Proper building materials, land assessment and other precautions are paramount.

“It’s a real dilemma we’re faced with,” Perry said. “This fire-flood is part of the natural risk that exists in our environment and we do not have an easy way to defend ourselves once the fire has occurred.”