Restoring Lovell Canyon will be up to nature — and time

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2002 | 9:27 a.m.

Nature and nurture will combine to help the U.S. Forest Service restore 4,300 acres burned during July's Lost Cabin Fire in the Spring Mountains, a report said.

A team of scientific specialists spent the past three weeks examining the scorched stands of pinyon and juniper trees, CC Springs and the Torino Ranch in the area known as Lovell Canyon.

The 10-page restoration report for the Lost Cabin Fire was then released by the Forest Service.

"There are several things we could do," said team leader Charles Souders, a soil scientist with the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. The restoration will take time and plenty of rain and snow from nature, he said.

Spreading grass seed or planting trees is not part of the plan. The area is too dry, too rocky and too burned to sprout seedlings at the moment. Grass seeds could introduce alien species that could hamper efforts to grow pinyon and juniper trees, Souders said.

The Forest Service plans to tap a special interagency government fund for $30,500 to clear flood channels, restore CC Springs and stabilize the scorched earth, Forest Service spokeswoman Beth Short said.

Immediately, crews will begin to unplug a pipe clogged with mud and ash at CC Springs, Forest Service archaeologist Kathleen Sprowl said.

The springs there support a variety of wildlife, including rabbits, coyotes and birds.

Off-road vehicles will be banned in the burn area. The road to CC Springs will be blocked off and it will become a walking trail. In addition to posted signs, rangers will patrol the area to keep trespassers out.

Much of the Lovell Canyon restoration efforts will include extended monitoring by rangers, biologists and botanists.

Two heavy rainstorms during the weeklong fire soaked the area and allowed water to sink under the crust hardened by drought and flames. Summer rains, however, are not enough to nourish tree seeds.

After winter rain and snow falls, the Forest Service will assess how much restoration can be done in the area, Sprowl said.

"It's not an emergency," she said of planting the mountain area. There have been other burns of a few thousand acres in the area. "Without water everything will die."

Native bushes could be planted in about March along the 10-mile stretch of Lovell Canyon Road and above Torino Ranch, a spot where disadvantaged children had been camping days before lightning sparked the wildland fire on July 14.

Brush roots will help stabilize the soil, Sprowl said.

Tree seeds in the soil could take up to 25 years to begin to grow, after bushes establish themselves.

"It's going to take a long time to regrow trees, maybe up to 100 years," Sprowl said. "Hopefully, nature will help us."