Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Fire Used in Effort to Boost Poppy Growth : Nature: Department of Parks and Recreation uses ‘prescribed burns’ to remove non-native plant species threatening reserve.

Fields that are sometimes ablaze with the vibrant orange of blooming poppies were glowing Tuesday morning in the orange of fire.

In an experimental effort, the state Department of Parks and Recreation decided to set fire to nearly 15 acres of land within the sprawling California Poppy Reserve in hopes of increasing the display of poppies and other wildflowers in future years.

“Hopefully this will be effective and (we’ll) continue with a larger program and promote more poppies,” said Craig Mattson, a supervising ranger with the state parks department. “We know fire’s real effective with most plant communities. This is a real unknown with wildfires.”

The so-called prescribed burns, which charred about eight acres west of the visitor’s center and more than six acres near the park entrance, burned off grasses, tumbleweeds and other non-native plant species that can choke out naturally occurring vegetation.

Naturalist Mary Lou MacKenzie said that since the state bought the 1,700 acres west of Lancaster and designated the land a poppy reserve in the late 1970s, the property has remained virtually undisturbed.

The reserve’s volunteer association for several years has been asking that steps be taken to keep the poppies plentiful, MacKenzie said.

Mattson said that some consideration is even being given to the prospect of allowing sheep to graze within the reserve as a means of reducing the non-native plants.

Part of the problem, Mattson said, is that not much is known about the impacts of fire or limited grazing on poppies or other wildflowers.

Standing on a knoll above a slowly burning field, Mattson stressed that there are many unknowns. “We may see no poppies on this next year,” he said. “And then in two years, there may be poppies in this little plot and nothing around it.”

John Crossman, resource ecologist for the parks department, said that California poppies usually flourish in areas that are a bit disturbed.

But the parks department cannot control the weather, particularly the timing and amount of rainfall as well as winter and spring temperatures.

In 1991, after years of drought, optimum conditions and plentiful rains resulted in a tremendous poppy season at the reserve, with hillsides covered with the state flower visible as an orange glow for miles.

With little rain this past winter, however, the poppy season was at best disappointing. Besides the lack of rain, non-native grasses and weeds overshadowed the wildflowers.

As a parks department news release states: “No matter what is done, the amount and timing of the seasonal rainfall will have more weight in determining the intensity of the spring flowering season.”