May 14, 2007 11:32 am US/Pacific
Scientists Caution About Replanting Griffith Park
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Several scientists are cautioning Los Angeles officials to think hard before reseeding and replanting large areas of Griffith Park that burned in last week's 820-acre brush fire, it was reported Monday.
Reseeding can be expensive and potentially useless, the scientists, who specialize in restoring open land in Southern California after major wildfires, told the Los Angeles Times. It can also introduce grasses and other plants that normally do not grow in the region, crowding out natural vegetation, they said.
"It's generally a waste of money," Jon E. Keeley, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who has written extensively about fire ecology, told The Times. "There are countless examples in Southern California where people have spent millions of dollars on these projects, and it's just been a complete waste."
Some city officials told The Times that they had not approved a major reseeding program, despite Friday's announcement of a preliminary $50 million emergency plan that would use reseeding to prevent erosion and mudslides on hillsides left denuded by the fire.
"We don't have a reseeding program yet," Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the city's Recreation and Parks Department, told The Times.
"Anything we do within the park has to fit in with the ecosystem."
A spokesman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told The Times Sunday that plans were still being developed and that Villaraigosa had not taken a position on any of the possible ways to rehabilitate the 4,200-acre park.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
