State Begins Reseeding the Emerald Canyon Area

A helicopter operated by the California Department of Forestry began a two-day mission Wednesday to reseed 1,300 burned acres of Emerald Canyon, despite ongoing controversy about the plan’s effectiveness.

“We need to get that seed down to set up erosion control on the hillside,” department spokesman Bill Peters said of the first reseeding effort since the Laguna Beach fire.

Originally the department had recommended that the entire 10,000-acre burn site be reseeded. But the plan was reduced to include only lands managed directly by the Department of Forestry after several agencies objected to reseeding as ecologically unsound. They include the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, Crystal Cove State Park and the city of Laguna Beach.

“There is no proof that it works,” said Elisabeth Brown, a local biologist and vocal critic of reseeding. “But there is evidence that it damages the ability of the natural plant community to return through direct competition for resources such as water and nutrients in the soil. It’s an unnecessary operation with (bad) side effects.”

Forestry officials on Wednesday objected to that characterization, describing reseeding as a quick and effective way to anchor bare soil until native vegetation can return.

“The evidence is inconclusive,” said Doug Forrest, a resource planning officer for the Department of Forestry. “We believe that it works.”

The seed being dropped in Emerald Canyon--called zorro fescue--is particularly effective, Peters said, because it sprouts in seven to 14 days, has a fibrous net-like root system, and will survive for only one season. Although not native to California, he said, the grass “has been used so much in California that it’s naturalized. It will die out and next season the native vegetation will be back up with nothing to hinder it.”

While some critics have argued that a heavy rain would wash the seeds away, Forrest maintained that enough would survive to control erosion.

“There are so many textures on the surface that it will hold some of the seeds,” he said. “That argument is a big generality.”

On Wednesday afternoon, about 50 Department of Forestry personnel with 13 trucks gathered at a spot near Bonita Canyon Drive and Bommer Canyon Road as the first 1,000-pound bucket of seed was hoisted aloft, dangling from a 25-foot line attached to a helicopter. By pressing a lever in the cockpit, Peters said, the pilot can activate a chute and spinner in the bottom of the bucket to scatter the seeds.

“Sometimes when the light’s just right you can see them come out,” said Brian J. Novak, one of two pilots charged with dispersing the seeds in a target area about two-thirds of a mile long and one-third of a mile wide.

“It’s not an exact science,” he added, “but we try to keep it as close as we can. You get intimately familiar with every rock and burned-out bush.”

Forestry officials said they planned to drop about 7,800 pounds of the seed in the area at a rate of about six pounds per acre. By late Wednesday, Peters said, the helicopter had spread three buckets of its cargo in Emerald Canyon, with the rest scheduled to be dispensed today.

On Tuesday night, the Laguna Beach City Council approved a plan by Woodward-Clyde, the Santa Ana company acting as the city’s consultant on erosion control, to reseed more than 250 acres of scorched hillsides within city limits using a mix of native seeds in a mulch, sprayed onto the ground. The mulch is designed to keep the seeds in place.

At the same time, the council rejected a suggestion by its own staff to reseed the open areas of Laguna Canyon using helicopters.

John Lowrie, a resource conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Soil Conservation Service, estimated the local, state and federal cost of the reseeding and erosion control effort at about $2.1 million. That cost would be borne, he said, by a number of governmental entities, including his own and the city of Laguna Beach.

Back in Emerald Canyon, meanwhile, the mood was upbeat as more and more seeds found their way into canyon crevices via the air.

“It’s a bit windy today but otherwise as expected,” said pilot Novak, munching a hamburger between flights.

“We just try to make the circumstances for God to help out.”

Times staff writer Anne Cekola contributed to this story.

Reseeding Laguna Beach A city program to reseed Laguna Beach’s hillsides denuded by last month’s fires begins later this week. Specific locations comprising 277 acres include: Location: Between Skyline Drive and Canyon Acres Acres: 76.5 Method: Hydraulic soil sealing Cost: $160,650 Location: North of Canyon Acres, along Laguna Canyon Road Acres: 53.0 Method: Hydraulic soil sealing Cost: 111,300 Location: Between Park and Tahiti avenues Acres: 48.0 Method: Hydraulic soil sealing Cost: 100,800 Location: Hidden Valley Canyon Road Acres: 31.0 Method: Bonded fiber matrix Cost: 155,000 Location: Between Park Avenue and Temple Hills Drive Acres: 21.5 Method: Hydraulic soil sealing Cost: 45,150 Location: Between Laguna Canyon Road and Mystic View/Skyline Drive Acres: 17.5 Method: Bonded fiber matrix Cost: 87,500 Location: Between lower Skyline and Coral drives Acres: 13.0 Method: Bonded fiber matrix Cost: 65,000 Location: Along Park Avenue between Skyline Drive and Hidden Valley Canyon Road Acres: 11.0 Method: Dry mulching with tackifier Cost: 18,150 Location: 1200 Skyline Drive Acres: 3.5 Method: Bonded fiber matrix Cost: 17,500 Location: Irvine Cove Acres: 2.0 Method: Hydraulic soil sealing Cost: 4,200

RESEEDING METHODS These three methods are the most common being employed to help control hillside erosion: Bonded fiber matrix: A hydraulically applied blanket of wood fibers is held together by a high-strength adhesive. Source: Woodward-Clyde Consultants Hydraulic soil sealing: Soil surface, ash, seed and mulch are bound together by an acrylic copolymer. Dry mulching with tackifier: Weed-free straw is applied with blower; tack mixture is applied on top to hold straw in place.