A recent report showed that as many as 80% of the rare Torrey pines in the Channel Islands National Park may be lost to damage from this year's Santa Rosa Island fire.
Flames from the blaze that started May 15 raced through grass and chewed through brush on Santa Rosa, roughly 40 miles off Ventura. In all, the fire burned nearly 29 square miles, destroyed at least two historic structures and became the largest in the Channel Islands' recorded history.
Initial assessments estimated a 60% to 80% mortality rate for the island's thousands of Torrey pines, officials said. The grove, one of just two naturally occurring populations in the world, was particularly hard hit by the blaze, according to a team of specialists that evaluated the burn area.
Park
Superintendent Ethan McKinley called the potential loss of so many of the pines heartbreaking. He also described the next few months as critical for recovery.
"The fire may be over, but we're now in a race against time," McKinley said, in a statement released Sept. 1.
Staff and volunteers have started work to try to stabilize the remaining grove before the rainy season – one that could threaten the potential long-term recovery, officials said.
How could storms affect recovery on Santa Rosa?
After a fire, burned slopes can become vulnerable to flash floods and debris flows during intense rainfall. In some spots, flames can leave behind little, if any, plants and vegetation that otherwise help protect the soil from erosion.
Staff and volunteers have started to place hundreds of long tubes made of natural fibers to help reduce erosion, the park said. Called wattles, they are designed to help slow runoff and hold soil and seeds in place to allow vegetation to recover.
Recommendations from the Burned Area Emergency Response team also included cleaning culverts to protect the road system on the remote island, stabilizing vulnerable archeological sites and monitoring invasive plants that can spread following a fire.
Can officials save Santa Rosa Island's Torrey pines?
Park staff and others have collected more than 14,000 Torrey pine seeds released from cones after the fire. Viable seeds are expected to be propagated in a nursery on the island and grown into seedlings, officials said.
Plans call for those seedlings to eventually be planted in designated locations within the burned grove. An estimated 300 to 500 seedlings could be planted each year across a 15-acre restoration area, according to the plan. Other viable seeds would be placed in a seed bank.
In the assessment, officials called reforestation costly but also essential to the pine's survival.
What happened during the Santa Rosa Island fire?
Nearly 40% of the island burned in the fire that was reported 100% contained in early June.
The island is one of five in the Channel Islands National Park, sometimes called the Galapagos of North America and home to more than 2,000 plant and animal species. Some are found there and nowhere else in the world.
The park service began to take over management of the island in the 1980s. As Santa Rosa transitioned from decades of ranching to a park, native plants, from coastal sage scrub to manzanita and oaks, returned, moving in around nonnative grasses growing there.
Among the wildlife, Santa Rosa is home to a small, cinnamon-colored fox. About the size of a house cat, the fox made one of the fastest recoveries in the history of the federal Endangered Species Act about a decade ago. Researchers also have made discoveries of rare fossils and significant archeological sites on the island.
This year's fire appeared to have started after a sailboat crashed into rocks and a mariner was stranded overnight. Early on, weather conditions made aerial operations largely ineffective and slowed the process of transporting firefighters and equipment to the remote spot.
Cheri Carlson covers the environment for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Santa Rosa's rare Torrey pines face steep odds after fire, report says
