SANTA MARGARITA, Calif- The Calf Fire is 100-percent contained. Now it's time for rehab. All the areas where the fire scorched the land and where crews left their mark fighting the fire are being evaluated to make sure it goes back to its natural state.
"On park hill road we are looking where the air retardant was dropped to make sure so it doesn't cause any future risk," says Cal Fire's Rehabilitation Supervisor, Alan Peters. You can still see the retardant turning into a powder on the road. "The biggest area of concern would be any areas near streams such as the Salinas River," says Peters. That's because the sediment can degrade the river as well as hurt the frog and fish habitats.
The lines made by bulldozers will also be worked on so vegetation can thrive when it grows back. "We construct cross drains so the water drains off the dozer line and into the unburned side of the area so that the water will so the water will drain into vegetative areas," says Peters. Within 2-3 weeks Peters says the land should be recovering and in some cases even sprouting. "We do our best to pick up after ourselves and make sure we leave it as close to natural as we can."
So far there has been no substantial damage, although crews are in the initial phase of rehabbing the area. Peters says about a year from now there should be pretty good coverage of vegetation returning.
