Laguna Unveils Reseeding Plans to Stem Erosion in Wake of Fire : Ecology: ‘Politically correct’ mix of native plants will be used on burned-out sites. U.S. Soil Conservation Service will pick up 75% of cost and state 12%, leaving the city a $500,000 tab.

LAGUNA BEACH — Burned-out hillsides in this community are likely to be reseeded with native vegetation beginning Wednesday at a cost to the city of $500,000, a private consultant told an overflow crowd Saturday morning.

“We’re not trying anything new,” Michael Harding told the audience at a special meeting of the Laguna Beach City Council. “We’re sticking with what works.”

Harding, an expert in erosion and sediment control at the Woodward-Clyde company in Santa Ana, said that he and his colleagues had worked hard to come up with a reseeding plan that would be both effective and acceptable to Laguna residents.

To that end, he said, they decided on what he called a “politically correct” mixture of native seeds that includes encilia, California sage, coyote bush, buckwheat, black sage, California poppy, monkey flower and lupine.

Some local environmentalists in recent days had circulated memos objecting to reseeding as ineffective and damaging to the local ecology. “The hills have always recovered spontaneously before,” one memo read.

No one, however, raised any strong objections to the reseeding plan presented at Saturday’s meeting, attended by about 120 people. And Harding characterized the proposed seed list as consisting only of seeds that would not impede the regrowth of local plants that had been burned in the fire. “It’s a mixture that the city has already used in projects before,” he said.

Using a series of color slides, Harding illustrated various methods his company intends to employ to keep the new seeds in place during future downpours such as the one that caused massive runoffs from the denuded hillsides last week. Those methods include:

* Applying the seed, then blowing wheat-free straw on top before shooting a chemical binder onto the surface to act as a glue holding the seed and straw in place.

* Using recycled paper or wood fiber mixed with an acrylic material to form a viscous mixture that, when sprayed on the ground, will soak in and act as a mulch to bind the soil and seed to the ground.

* Creating a bonded fiber matrix out of wood fiber and a special kind of adhesive that, together, act as a “blanket” on the soil.

* Using erosion-control blankets made of straw, coconut or wood fiber to be laid on the hillsides after seeding.

Harding also showed slides depicting additional methods his company has employed to stem the flow of water during the recent Laguna floods, such as placing straw bales and gravel bags at strategic points in drainage ditches and under hillsides.

“We’re not making blanket plans for one practice,” he said. “It will be a bunch of practices based on our resources and what we need to protect.”

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said the city will “within a day or two” present its reseeding plan to the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, which will pick up 75% of the cost. Another 12% will be paid by the state, he said, leaving the city a tab of up to $500,000. “That money is not yet budgeted at this point in time,” Frank said, adding that he expected to bring a new budget before the council for approval sometime in January.

Barring any unforeseen delays, he said, work crews should be ready to start reseeding by mid-week, an announcement that caused one council member to privately express some uneasiness.

“I wish we would have more opportunity for public input,” Councilwoman Ann Christoph said in an interview after the meeting. The plan, she said, “is vague. I guess it’s going to happen now, but it’s frustrating.”

After a short discussion with Christoph, Mayor Lida Lenney told The Times that the reseeding plan would be added as an emergency action item for the council to vote on at its regularly scheduled Tuesday night meeting, but that no opposition was expected.

“The council members want to be involved in the policy decision,” Lenney said. “I think it’s appropriate that we look at it as a council, but I expect the thing to go forward.”

Immediately after the meeting, a city-sponsored workshop for local homeowners was held during which they were urged, among other things, to:

* Refrain from removing the roots of burned trees and plants from their properties, at least until spring.

* Apply homemade mulches and plant seeds to re-vegetate burned-out areas.

* Purchase erosion-control blankets made of materials such as jute or wood fiber to lay across their own denuded hillsides.

* Keep drainage systems clean of debris.

* Organize neighborhood “rain watches” to lay down sand or gravel bags in anticipation of future rains.

When it was all over, knots of residents stood in line to discuss their individual situations with various experts. “This was helpful,” said Michael Lindsey, who lost his home in the fire. “There was lots of good information.”