Santa Maria Times.com

Fire and Rain: Nature reshaping the forest

By Sam Womack

April 13, 2008

Sawdust and dry dirt swirled around Mayer Olivares' face as he pressed the blades of his chainsaw into the trunk of a tree along the Sulphur Springs trail in Los Padres National Forest.

The heat of the day baked down last week as the 20-year-old Santa Marian and fellow members of his California Conservation Corps team labored to restore trails and repair damage caused by last summer's giant Zaca Fire, which charred nearly a quarter-million acres of rugged and remote land.

The amount of damage caused by the months-long blaze is massive, and the forest likely will take years, even decades, to fully recover, officials say.

Many trails, especially those in mid-slope, were covered by fallen trees, rocks and boulders, and unstable, impassable piles of dirt created by wind and gravity.

Now, potentially 175 miles of trails in burned areas are in need of help - ranging from routine maintenance to full rehabilitation.

City, county and federal officials breathed a collective sigh of relief earlier this year when seasonal rains through the winter and spring turned out to be plentiful but not excessive. They had feared that repeated heavy downpours could devastate the natural environment and cause disastrous flooding in downstream communities, including the cities of Santa Maria and Guadalupe.

While that bullet apparently was dodged, officials warn that the danger of downstream flooding will remain for several years, and hikers and other forest users need to be aware that the fire-damaged forest right now is a potentially perilous place.

“The stuff the forest service is doing is fantastic, it's just a very difficult situation,” said Ray Ford, a crew leader for the Los Padres Forest Association who has spent decades traveling in the backcountry. “They're doing a good job of getting the most popular trail heads opened up, but it's scratching the surface.”

Olivares has been working with the CCC for three months, and his crew last week had just finished rehabilitating the Sulphur Springs trail, which runs from Zaca Ridge northwest of Figueroa Mountain down to Manzana Creek.

The work included installation of drainage features on the trail, carving the mountain back away from the trail, leveling the tread and moving fallen trees.

The motto for the CCC is “hard work, low pay and miserable conditions,” but inspite of what had obviously been a long, tiring day, the 12 crew members from Santa Maria smiled and laughed their way up from Manzana Creek, one of two main drainages in the roadless San Rafael Wilderness Area.

“I like taking care of nature and being in the outdoors,” Olivares said while making his way up the steep slope.

All trails were opened in the San Rafael Wilderness April 4, but what hikers encounter may force them to turn back, dig or use a hand saw to get through, and officials urge extreme caution.

“What might have been easy a year ago, may be impassable this year and you have to know when to turn around and go back,” Ford said.

Hazards include deep gullies, landslides, rockslides, burned trees and falling limbs.

Most of the restoration work thus far has focused on Potrero, Sulphur Springs, Sweetwater and Judell trails because these mid-slope paths met the requirements of the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) by needing immediate watershed protection. That meant funding was available for the work.

They also required routine maintenance work such as tread levelling, removing fallen trees and placing water bars, but their steep grades and proximity to Sisquoc River tributaries gave them the need for CCC crews, said Santa Lucia District Ranger Kathleen Phelps.

Other restoration work is focused on the Santa Cruz trail above the upper Santa Ynez River in the adjacent Santa Barbara Ranger District, according to Ford and Phelps.

Efforts to repair trails and other forest resources are hampered by federal law, which prohibits vehicles and most mechanized equipment within the wilderness boundaries.

“We're experimenting with mule-drawn tools to clear trails that are harder to access,” Phelps said.

If the mule plan works, she said, trails will be cleared more cheaply and quickly. Otherwise, it could cost approximately $10,000 to clear an acre of wilderness.

But what's to stop next winter's rains from destroying the trail work? Not much, according to Ford.

“There's no guarantee we won't have a major storm that would impact all the work that's been done - you just have to do the work and hope you've done a good job,” said Ford, who regularly volunteers his time to trail clearing for the forest service.

To reduce downstream flooding danger prior to the rainy season,county and city officials arranged for pilot channels and debris basins to be used to divert excess water and large debris from overflowing and clogging levees and reservoirs.

County Flood Control Director Tom Fayram said the county's reservoirs all filled up, and Lake Cachuma, which provides drinking water for the South Coast, filled and spilled over.

Santa Maria Utilities Director Rick Sweet said he remains concerned over what might happen to the Santa Maria River Levee and groundwater for the city in the next few years, until the forest vegetation begins to stabilize.

“We're worried about the next few years and what effects a large, high-intensity storm would have,” Sweet said.

Kathy Good, spokeswoman for Los Padres National Forest, said it should take about five years for watersheds affected by the fire to recover hydrologically.

When a fire comes through, it removes the vegetation that otherwise would absorb rainfall, slow down runoff and prevent erosion. If the fire burns hot enough, it could cause waxy substances from burned vegetation to release a gas into the soil, preventing water absorption and causing even more runoff and erosion.

The Zaca fire began July 4 in Bell Canyon when employees of Rancho La Laguna allegedly ignited dry grass while grinding metal. Employees Santaigo Iniguez Cervantes of Santa Maria and Jose Jesus Cebrera of Santa Ynez, and the ranch's owner have all pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury, one felony count of recklessly causing a fire of a structure or a forest, and special allegations connected to the counts of recklessly causing a fire.

The next court date is June 25.

In mid-December the fire was declared fully contained, but still forest rangers said it would not be unusual to see a smoldering stump.

Sam Womack can be reached at 739-2218 or at swomack@santamariatimes.com 

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