Trails affected by Station Fire

[halhiker]

I know with the incredible loss of property and the human toll exacted by this monumental fire it's probably insignificant to worry about hiking trails BUT this is a hiking forum so I'm wondering if anyone knows what trails are affected by this fire.

I know Mount Wilson has a trail or two but I've never really done any hikes in the San Gabriels so I don't know them well.

I know the land will recover--I did the Cedar Spring hike earlier this year and it's hard to tell that a huge fire burned there in the 90's--but I don't like to think about what the fire and winter rains will do to the trails.

Anyone have any favorites up there?

[Rumpled]

The forest service has closed essentially the whole forest south of the 14 and west of 39.

Their map is horrible, but here it is.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/orders/StationFireClosureMap-01-09-06.pdf

Basically every trail and peak in the region.

[AlanK]

There is a lot of discussion on the San Gabriel Mountains Discussion Forum.

[Zé]

just looking over the hike TR's I've done, there's a bunch.

Mt Wilson has a ton of trails around it. Most in the range.

Switzer Falls and Bear Canyon areas are burnt.
Strawberry Peak

Monte Cristo Loop was a good one.

Pacifico is (was) a really nice summit area.

cross country to Vetter Lookout probably won't be the same.

I'll be more disappointed if this stuff gets to Waterman & Twin Peaks, as well as Pleasant View Ridge. That's the the really nice stuff of the forest.

[FIGHT ON]

it don't make me no never mind. It's part of what was supposed to happen years ago. Just let it burn and get out of the way!

[AlanK]

it don't make me no never mind. It's part of what was supposed to happen years ago. Just let it burn and get out of the way!

Years ago? For a different point of view, here is someting that Hikin Jim posted on the San Gabriels board today.

There was a chaparral expert on NPR this morning. Interestingly, he said that the rate of fires is about the same as historical patterns. Many fires are suppressed, but there are a lot more fires now that human beings are around. His opinion was that "controlled burns" although effective in pine forests are ineffective, even destructive in a chapparal environment.

In a pine forest, the fire burns through quickly, cleaning up the forest floor but leaving the trees intact. In a chapparal area, everything is destroyed. His research indicates that burns every 50 - 150 years are what the chapparal plant community needs. In other words, there should be a good number of years between burns in order for a chapparal community to be healthy. He pointed out how a major fire swept through San Diego just four years after another brush fire had burned through the same area. He said that the idea that burning the chapparal every so often to keep fire danger down is a total myth and is not reflected in a study of historical data and chapparal plant community studies.

His remarks made a lot of sense to me.

[Hikin_Jim]

Boy, where do I start?

Trail Canyon
Long stretches of the PCT, possibly all the way from around Sulphur Springs to Hwy 14.
Pacoima Canyon
Condor Peak Trail
Gold Creek Trail, might be another one around here that I'm missing, Mendenhall Ridge? Magic Mountain?
Fall Creek Trail
Grizzly Flats Trail, probably both trails (from Hwy 2 and from Big T)
Stone Canyon
Placerita Canyon, Oak of the Golden Dream -- there's a couple over there; haven't been over there for a while.
Deukmejian Wilderness Park (multiple trails)
Rim of the Valley Trail (kind of part of Deukmijian Wilderness Park
Sister Elsie Trail
Sam Merrill Trail
Castle Canyon Trail
Dawn Mine Trail
Sunset Ridge Trail
Dawn Mine to Mt. Lowe Railway (the upper connector)
Dawn Mine to Sunset Ridge Trail (the lower connector)
Tom Sloane Trail
Parallel trail to Tom Sloane trail (on the other side of the ridge.
Around 50% of the Gabrieleno National Recreation Trail.
Switzer Falls Trail (to the base of the falls from Gabrieleno, or is that just the Bear Canyon Trail?)
The mount Lowe "8."
San Gabriel Peak Trail
Mount Disappointment Trail
Bear Canyon Trail
Mt. Wilson Trail, upper section.
Rim Trail.
Possibly Mt. Zion Trail
Sturdevant trail, upper section.
Possibly Winter Creek Trail -- section to Mt. Wilson Trail.
Mt. Wilson Toll Road, the portion used as part of the Mt. Wilson Trail
Valley Forge Trail
Kenyon Devore Trail (formerly Rattlesnake Trail)
Idlehour Trail
Gould Mesa Trail?
Ken Burton Trail
Any "unofficial" trails in the Arroyo Seco
Agua Prieto Trail
Possibly Vetter Mountain Trail
Silver Moccasin Trail (from West Fork to Charlton/Chilao)
Possibly Devils Canyon Trail
Both Trails to Mt. Hillyer
Strawberry Peak Trail
Barley Flats Trail
The Clear Creek Jct to Switzer's Trail
Colby Canyon Trail
North Strawberry Peak Trail (From Colby Ranch)

That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.

HJ

[FIGHT ON]

it don't make me no never mind. It's part of what was supposed to happen years ago. Just let it burn and get out of the way!

Years ago? For a different point of view, here is someting that Hikin Jim posted on the San Gabriels board today.

There was a chaparral expert on NPR this morning. Interestingly, he said that the rate of fires is about the same as historical patterns. Many fires are suppressed, but there are a lot more fires now that human beings are around. His opinion was that "controlled burns" although effective in pine forests are ineffective, even destructive in a chapparal environment.

In a pine forest, the fire burns through quickly, cleaning up the forest floor but leaving the trees intact. In a chapparal area, everything is destroyed. His research indicates that burns every 50 - 150 years are what the chapparal plant community needs. In other words, there should be a good number of years between burns in order for a chapparal community to be healthy. He pointed out how a major fire swept through San Diego just four years after another brush fire had burned through the same area. He said that the idea that burning the chapparal every so often to keep fire danger down is a total myth and is not reflected in a study of historical data and chapparal plant community studies.

His remarks made a lot of sense to me.

what's a chapparal any way?
ya, years ago. who ever wrote that does not address fires being put out that were caused by lightning. and npr? what did you expect?

[AlanK]

Sigh.

Look up the California Chaparral Institute. They actually study the stuff you walk by all the time.

Myth #1: Chaparral needs fire to "renew" and clean out "built-up" vegetation.

As an ecosystem, chaparral does not "need" fire to remain healthy. Old-growth chaparral continues to be productive, growing fresh, new growth in its upper canopy every year. In fact, some chaparral plants require the leaf litter and shade provided by older chaparral stands for their seeds to germinate successfully. Instead of becoming "trashy" or unproductive, as some have claimed, thirty-year-old chaparral is actually just beginning a new cycle of life. To find out what old-growth chaparral is really like and to download a recent paper discussing how old-growth chaparral recovers from wildfire, please go to our Old-Growth page.


Myth #2: Past fire suppression has built up "unnatural" levels of fuel (vegetation) in the chaparral.

The California Statewide Fire History Database clearly shows acreage burned per decade over the past 100 years in southern California has remained relatively constant, despite truly heroic attempts by firefighters. Unlike some forests, fire has NOT been excluded from the chaparral. In fact, fire frequency in southern California has been increasing dramatically over the past century.

The natural fire return interval for chaparral was probably anywhere from 30 to 200+ years. No one really knows for sure. Careful, objective statistical analyses by scientists at UC Berkeley and the US Geological Survey have found no significant change in the probability of chaparral burning as it ages except a slight reduction in risk in stands less than about 5 years old. Slight tendencies don’t provide much solace in the face of our inevitable Santa Ana firestorms, which sweep through all vegetation age classes. The notion that a mosaic (patches of different aged chaparral) will prevent large firestorms is not supported by data collected over the past ten years.

See our Fire and Science page for additional details. Also the two papers below will be helpful in understanding the truth.


Testing a Basic Assumption of Shrubland Fire Management: how important is fuel age? M.A. Moritz, J.E. Keeley, E.A. Johnson, A.A. Schaffner (2004).


Reexamining Fire Suppression Impacts on Brushland Fire Regimes. Keeley, J.E., C.J. Fotheringham, M. Morais (1999).



Southern California Fires Per Decade
Each bar represents the area burned per decade (1900 to 1990) with a 10-year running annual average line during the 20th century for nine California counties. Top row: Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara. Middle row: Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino. Bottom row: Riverside, Orange, San Diego. Horizontal axis in years, vertical axis area burned in hectares. 1 hectares equals 2.47 acres. Adapted from Keeley and Fotheringham 2003 as found in Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California (Halsey 2005).


Myth #3: Large chaparral wildfires are unusual and preventable.

Large chaparral fires have occurred prior to 2003 and will continue to occur. Southern California has one of the worst fire-prone climates on earth. For example, more than 300,000 acres burned in the Santiago Canyon fire during the last week of September, 1889 in Orange County (the 2003 Cedar fire burned 273,246 acres). During the same time period another fire in San Diego County burned more than 60,000 acres. As with modern fire storms, there were numerous other wildfires across Southern California that week. However, the fires didn't inflict much damage on the human community because few people lived in the backcountry back then. Now, with so many homes up against the wilderness, fires can become catastrophic.

"Santa Ana. Sept. 25. - The fire which has been burning for the past two days still continues in the canyons. The burned and burning district now extends over one hundred miles from north to south, and is 10 to 18 miles in width. Over $100,000 worth of pasturage and timber has been destroyed." Los Angeles Times, September 27, 1889.

The best ways to prevent loss of life and property are to retrofit existing structures to make them more fire safe, plan communities so they are not built in high fire risk areas, and maintain proper fuel management (wooden fences, wood piles, ornamental vegetation, and native vegetation) directly around structures.


Myth #4: Chaparral is adapted to fire.

It is best to think of each type of chaparral as adapted to a particular fire regime rather than just "fire." This is an important distinction because when people say chaparral is adapted to or needs fire there is no reference to all the important variables involved such as fire frequency, season of burn, intensity (level of heat), or severity (amount of living material consumed). Too much fire (increased frequency) will destroy a chaparral system. Fire during the cool, moist season can seriously damage the seed bank. See our Fire & Nature, Threats and Fire & Science pages for more details.


Myth #5: Chaparral plant species are "oozing combustible resins."*
This type of comment is frequently seen in articles about fires in chaparral, giving the impression that the reason chaparral shrubs are so flammable is primarily due to the presence of flammable chemicals, waxes, or oils in their leaves and stems. While it is true some chaparral plant species (and many other drought-tolerant plants including pines) have chemicals within their tissues than can be flammable, this does not mean that's why they ignite or burn so hot when they do. Chaparral plants ignite and burn hot when the environmental conditions are right, namely high temperature, low humidity, and low fuel moistures (the amount of moisture in the plant). In addition, the leaves and stems on many chaparral shrubs are quite small, creating perfect burning conditions -a lot of surface area and space for oxygen. Chaparral shrubs burn so easily because they provide fine, dry fuels during drought conditions. While plant chemicals are certainly involved in the burning process, they do not really make a significant contribution to the flammability of chaparral in general. This also explains why it is usually quite difficult to get chaparral to burn in the spring. There's too much moisture in the plants. If "oozing combustible resins"* were the main cause of flammability, chaparral would burn easily during any season.

See the paper below for additional details.

See Alessio, G.A., et. al 2008. Influence of water and terpenes on flammability in some dominant Mediterranean species. International Journal of Wildland Fire 17: 274-286.

*The hyperbolic "oozing" quote came from the July 2008 issue of National Geographic.


Myth #6: Hot chaparral fires "sterilize" the soil.

Can fire "sterilize" the soil and if it can, does it really matter? A hot fire can certainly kill biological life on the soil surface. But unless there are burning logs that maintain continuous amounts of heat over long periods of time, the amount of "soil sterilization" is relatively minor. Since trees and logs are not part of the chaparral ecosystem, chaparral fires are generally quite fast and the residence time for any heat on the surface is relatively short. In fact, hot fires actually serve an important purpose in shrubland ecosystems by destroying the seeds of invasive species. One sign of a healthy, chaparral ecosystem that is recovering from a fire are large areas of blackened ground (punctuated with resprouting shrubs and tiny shrub seedlings) remaining long after the first rainy season. Hot fires are a natural part of the chaparral. Contrary to popular opinion, we don't need to rush in and cover the ground with mulch or seed. A healthy ecosystem will recover quite well without our help.

For more information see:

Keeley, J.E., T. Brennan, and A.H. Pfaff. 2008. Fire severity and ecosystem responses following crown fires in California shrublands. Ecological Applications 18: 1530-1546.

A related issue to fire severity impacts has to do with "hydrophobic soils." Supposedly fire makes the surface of soils in chaparral water repellant because of all the "waxy" chemicals that burned off the plants' leaves (see Myth #5 above). It is then concluded that unless we "do something", rains will roll off the burn slopes like they were covered in wax paper, causing massive floods. Well, it has never been adequately demonstrated that this indeed occurs or that hydrophobic soil conditions are particularly important in post-fire chaparral environments. In fact, whatever "hydrophobic" condition occurs after a fire usually disappears after the first light rain.

[FIGHT ON]

Sigh.

Look up the California Chaparral Institute. They actually study the stuff you walk by all the time.

Myth #1: Chaparral needs fire to "renew" and clean out "built-up" vegetation.

As an ecosystem, chaparral does not "need" fire to remain healthy. Old-growth chaparral continues to be productive, growing fresh, new growth in its upper canopy every year. In fact, some chaparral plants require the leaf litter and shade provided by older chaparral stands for their seeds to germinate successfully. Instead of becoming "trashy" or unproductive, as some have claimed, thirty-year-old chaparral is actually just beginning a new cycle of life. To find out what old-growth chaparral is really like and to download a recent paper discussing how old-growth chaparral recovers from wildfire, please go to our Old-Growth page.


Myth #2: Past fire suppression has built up "unnatural" levels of fuel (vegetation) in the chaparral.

The California Statewide Fire History Database clearly shows acreage burned per decade over the past 100 years in southern California has remained relatively constant, despite truly heroic attempts by firefighters. Unlike some forests, fire has NOT been excluded from the chaparral. In fact, fire frequency in southern California has been increasing dramatically over the past century.

The natural fire return interval for chaparral was probably anywhere from 30 to 200+ years. No one really knows for sure. Careful, objective statistical analyses by scientists at UC Berkeley and the US Geological Survey have found no significant change in the probability of chaparral burning as it ages except a slight reduction in risk in stands less than about 5 years old. Slight tendencies don’t provide much solace in the face of our inevitable Santa Ana firestorms, which sweep through all vegetation age classes. The notion that a mosaic (patches of different aged chaparral) will prevent large firestorms is not supported by data collected over the past ten years.

See our Fire and Science page for additional details. Also the two papers below will be helpful in understanding the truth.


Testing a Basic Assumption of Shrubland Fire Management: how important is fuel age? M.A. Moritz, J.E. Keeley, E.A. Johnson, A.A. Schaffner (2004).


Reexamining Fire Suppression Impacts on Brushland Fire Regimes. Keeley, J.E., C.J. Fotheringham, M. Morais (1999).



Southern California Fires Per Decade
Each bar represents the area burned per decade (1900 to 1990) with a 10-year running annual average line during the 20th century for nine California counties. Top row: Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara. Middle row: Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino. Bottom row: Riverside, Orange, San Diego. Horizontal axis in years, vertical axis area burned in hectares. 1 hectares equals 2.47 acres. Adapted from Keeley and Fotheringham 2003 as found in Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California (Halsey 2005).


Myth #3: Large chaparral wildfires are unusual and preventable.

Large chaparral fires have occurred prior to 2003 and will continue to occur. Southern California has one of the worst fire-prone climates on earth. For example, more than 300,000 acres burned in the Santiago Canyon fire during the last week of September, 1889 in Orange County (the 2003 Cedar fire burned 273,246 acres). During the same time period another fire in San Diego County burned more than 60,000 acres. As with modern fire storms, there were numerous other wildfires across Southern California that week. However, the fires didn't inflict much damage on the human community because few people lived in the backcountry back then. Now, with so many homes up against the wilderness, fires can become catastrophic.

"Santa Ana. Sept. 25. - The fire which has been burning for the past two days still continues in the canyons. The burned and burning district now extends over one hundred miles from north to south, and is 10 to 18 miles in width. Over $100,000 worth of pasturage and timber has been destroyed." Los Angeles Times, September 27, 1889.

The best ways to prevent loss of life and property are to retrofit existing structures to make them more fire safe, plan communities so they are not built in high fire risk areas, and maintain proper fuel management (wooden fences, wood piles, ornamental vegetation, and native vegetation) directly around structures.


Myth #4: Chaparral is adapted to fire.

It is best to think of each type of chaparral as adapted to a particular fire regime rather than just "fire." This is an important distinction because when people say chaparral is adapted to or needs fire there is no reference to all the important variables involved such as fire frequency, season of burn, intensity (level of heat), or severity (amount of living material consumed). Too much fire (increased frequency) will destroy a chaparral system. Fire during the cool, moist season can seriously damage the seed bank. See our Fire & Nature, Threats and Fire & Science pages for more details.


Myth #5: Chaparral plant species are "oozing combustible resins."*
This type of comment is frequently seen in articles about fires in chaparral, giving the impression that the reason chaparral shrubs are so flammable is primarily due to the presence of flammable chemicals, waxes, or oils in their leaves and stems. While it is true some chaparral plant species (and many other drought-tolerant plants including pines) have chemicals within their tissues than can be flammable, this does not mean that's why they ignite or burn so hot when they do. Chaparral plants ignite and burn hot when the environmental conditions are right, namely high temperature, low humidity, and low fuel moistures (the amount of moisture in the plant). In addition, the leaves and stems on many chaparral shrubs are quite small, creating perfect burning conditions -a lot of surface area and space for oxygen. Chaparral shrubs burn so easily because they provide fine, dry fuels during drought conditions. While plant chemicals are certainly involved in the burning process, they do not really make a significant contribution to the flammability of chaparral in general. This also explains why it is usually quite difficult to get chaparral to burn in the spring. There's too much moisture in the plants. If "oozing combustible resins"* were the main cause of flammability, chaparral would burn easily during any season.

See the paper below for additional details.

See Alessio, G.A., et. al 2008. Influence of water and terpenes on flammability in some dominant Mediterranean species. International Journal of Wildland Fire 17: 274-286.

*The hyperbolic "oozing" quote came from the July 2008 issue of National Geographic.


Myth #6: Hot chaparral fires "sterilize" the soil.

Can fire "sterilize" the soil and if it can, does it really matter? A hot fire can certainly kill biological life on the soil surface. But unless there are burning logs that maintain continuous amounts of heat over long periods of time, the amount of "soil sterilization" is relatively minor. Since trees and logs are not part of the chaparral ecosystem, chaparral fires are generally quite fast and the residence time for any heat on the surface is relatively short. In fact, hot fires actually serve an important purpose in shrubland ecosystems by destroying the seeds of invasive species. One sign of a healthy, chaparral ecosystem that is recovering from a fire are large areas of blackened ground (punctuated with resprouting shrubs and tiny shrub seedlings) remaining long after the first rainy season. Hot fires are a natural part of the chaparral. Contrary to popular opinion, we don't need to rush in and cover the ground with mulch or seed. A healthy ecosystem will recover quite well without our help.

For more information see:

Keeley, J.E., T. Brennan, and A.H. Pfaff. 2008. Fire severity and ecosystem responses following crown fires in California shrublands. Ecological Applications 18: 1530-1546.

A related issue to fire severity impacts has to do with "hydrophobic soils." Supposedly fire makes the surface of soils in chaparral water repellant because of all the "waxy" chemicals that burned off the plants' leaves (see Myth #5 above). It is then concluded that unless we "do something", rains will roll off the burn slopes like they were covered in wax paper, causing massive floods. Well, it has never been adequately demonstrated that this indeed occurs or that hydrophobic soil conditions are particularly important in post-fire chaparral environments. In fact, whatever "hydrophobic" condition occurs after a fire usually disappears after the first light rain.

this.
Myth #2: Past fire suppression has built up "unnatural" levels of fuel (vegetation) in the chaparral.

The California Statewide Fire History Database clearly shows acreage burned per decade over the past 100 years in southern California has remained relatively constant, despite truly heroic attempts by firefighters. Unlike some forests, fire has NOT been excluded from the chaparral. In fact, fire frequency in southern California has been increasing dramatically over the past century.

The natural fire return interval for chaparral was probably anywhere from 30 to 200+ years. No one really knows for sure. Careful, objective statistical analyses by scientists at UC Berkeley and the US Geological Survey have found no significant change in the probability of chaparral burning as it ages except a slight reduction in risk in stands less than about 5 years old. Slight tendencies don’t provide much solace in the face of our inevitable Santa Ana firestorms, which sweep through all vegetation age classes. The notion that a mosaic (patches of different aged chaparral) will prevent large firestorms is not supported by data collected over the past ten years.

sure there are more fires, but they put em out! and the ones started by lightning are put out as well. That's crazy. "put out the fire!" "put out the fire!" "put out the fire!" "put out the fire!" "put out the fire!" "put out the fire!" "put out the fire!" "put out the fire!" anybody ever tried letting the fire burn?
sounds like this guy just want's to put fires out to me. I say let em burn. just get out of the way and let mother nature do her thing. It's gonna happen anyway. Unless someone pours concrete all over the whole place, but then it would blow up right?