East Bay Pheonix Journal, November, 1992, Another California Fire Recovery Story

One of many fine photos of Oakland hills after 1991 fire at www.paulkienitz.net/gallery


443.

Published news story for Phoenix Journal, November 1992, by Lurene Kathleen Helzer, “Reforestation – what to do”. Side-bar item text only partially visible on old clipping:




Up on a Lake Temescal hillside, 17-year-olds Heather Landers and Lindsey Fratessa of Moraga scan the ground, ready with hoes in hand to take debris and pull weeds. Landers first tries a tough three-foot shrub. She pulls three or four times and frowns.

Turning, she faces a modest two-inch weed. “This is more my speed,” she says, pulling it out of the ground. She stands with roots dangling from her fist, looking smug.

“You’re so Moraga!” her buddy quips.

Landers and Fratessa were pulling weeds at Temescal August 8 as part of a volunteer effort to make the hills less inviting to fires. The Firescape Project, as it is called, is coordinated by East Bay Regional Parks District. East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), the City of Oakland, the American Society of Landscape Contractors, and other organizations.

“I didn’t realize how much things have grown back since the fire,” says Landers. “I thought it was still all barren.”

Like the plants that have cropped up in the fire zones, new organizations have emerged with the goal of revegetating disaster areas. Shortly after last year’s fire, Jane Rogers of the San Francisco Foundation, a non-profit organization, which serves five Bay Area counties, was left wondering which needs were unmet. Little had been done on revegetation, so the foundation eventually made grants totaling $100,000.

According to Jack Chin, a program fellow at the foundation who worked extensively on the revegetation effort, $25,000 was set aside to set up ACORN (Ad Hoc Committee on Replanting Needs). Another $10,000 went to the Mayors’ Task Force on Emergency Preparedness and Community Restoration, co-chaired by the mayors of Berkeley and Oakland, and the remaining $65,000 went to projects like environmental education programs in schools.

“One of the things we recognized was how important it was I to include the entire Oakland community, because the flatland areas are still recovering from the 1989 earthquake. We hoped to create some links between the hills of Oakland and the flatland areas,” Chin said.

“We wanted to get people thinking about how to revegetate their neighborhoods while creating jobs,” he added. “Community building is an objective of the program and of the foundation as a whole.”

Previous generations of Californians have been faced with similar problems after devastating fires. Since 1923, California has been a virtual dictionary illustration of the phrase “wildland fire.” Los Angeles County, 1933 – 25 people dead. Glenn County, 1953 – 15 people dead. Los Angeles County, 1966 – 12 people dead. Statewide fires, 1970 – 19 people dead.

Not including the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley fire or the recent summer fires of 1992, 55 wildland fires have burned since 1923, taking a total of 409,253 acres, 5,475 structures, and 148 lives. But as Roy D. Pike, deputy chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, wrote in his essay, “Adding Fuel to the Fire: Homes in the Wildlands,” fires have been a consistent theme in local history.

“The first significant building in the wildland areas of this state occurred during the Gold Rush in the Sierras. Towns sprang up virtually overnight, and just as quickly were destroyed by fires…One town was rebuilt three times during the Gold Rush era,” Pike wrote. But fires have also “played a key role in the evolution of most native plant species in this state, particularly the brush and tree species.”

Margaret Kelley, supervising naturalist at the Tilden Nature Area, said fire “has a certain cleansing function.” Fires give new plants a chance to sprout, rejuvenate the soil, free water for new growth and allow additional sunlight to hit the forest floor.

Kelley used the Monterey Pine as an example of a tree which reproduces after fires. The tree’s cones do not release seeds until a mechanical disturbance, such as a strong wind or a fire, starts the process. “If we look at Monterey Pines, we see that fire was a tool for spreading the species,” said Kelley.

“Observers of the 1991 fire watched television scenes of Monterrey Pines exploding, which led some to blame the species for spreading flames. But to make Monterey Pines a culprit for the fire would be inaccurate,” she said.

“On October 20, there were a set of circumstances that no matter what you had planted it was on the path to destruction. It was a very dry day after six years of drought, the humidity was extraordinarily low and there was a wind from the east, which is drying, as opposed to a westerly wind, which is moist. How often do you have those circumstances?”

Another tree under attack by observers was the eucalyptus. “I don’t recommend taking them down,” Kelley said, “but I don’t recommend replanting them, either. Eucalyptus trees are incredibly beautiful trees when they’re tended. But if we want to just ignore them, we’re going to be paid back.”

But what are the alternatives? Christine Schneider, a San Francisco landscape ecologist with ACORN, said it was difficult to enforce good landscaping habits.

“In an urban area, you can’t say ‘This is a list of trees that you can not plant.’ People will say, ‘Well, this is what I want to plant.’ It’s hard to change that mind set for the common good.”

“I think landscaping guidelines are most effective when they’re at the building permit or zoning permit offices,” Schneider said. “There is not one plant that is going to be fire retardant. If you put a flame to a plant, it eventually will burn. I would suggest native plants only because native plants are adapted to the situation.”

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention recommends specific types of trees, shrubs and ground cover plants for fire-safe home landscaping. California live oaks, Valley oaks, alders and sycamores are acceptable trees. Some of the shrubs are Aarons Beard, safe leaf rockrose and Descane rockrose. Ground cover plants include ice plants, ivies and Cape weed.

Schneider recommends homeowners get advice about landscaping for their lot, since landscaping conditions vary from block to block and house to house. She cautions against going to nurseries for advice.

“They’ll give advice based on supply and demand, rather than what’s good for their yard.”

When hiring a landscape architect, homeowners and rebuilders should look for someone knowledgeable about the particular lot, the bigger picture of the block and what is native to the area. Costs will vary, depending on how many hours the landscape architect spends at the consultation, and whether the client wants a drawn-out landscaping plan.

FUEL CLEARING GUIDELINES (Side-bar text item only partly visible in clipping.)

The state Department of Forestry has issued guidelines which can help homes survive a wildfire.

• Maintain a “defensible” space around the home by clearing flammable vegetation at least 30 feet around the structure. Clear dead leaves and branches to leave widely spaced ornamental shrubbery and trees.

• Clean needles and leaves from the roof, eaves and rain gutters.

• Trim tree limbs within 10 feet of chimneys and trim dead limbs hanging over the house or garage.

•Cover the chimney outlet or flue with a spark-arresting 1/2” mesh screen.

• Make sure the address is clearly visible for easy identification….fire hydrant…stack woodpiles…clear all vegetation…

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