UC Santa Barbara Lagoon Area Fire Burns Bad Grass and Clears a Path for Native Flowers

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) -  Smoke and flames could be seen throughout the lagoon area of UC Santa Barbara Monday morning where a special fire was burning.

It was set by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department in a special project with the  Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration.  This prescribed burn is planned and coordinated several other agencies including the Santa Barbara County APCD, San Luis Obispo County APCD, San Joaquin Valley APCD, Ventura County APCD, and the California Air Resources Board to minimize impacts on air quality on surrounding communities.

These types of burns first began in 2009.

The heat from the fire burns the grasses down to the top soil and new, specially chosen native seeds, will be planted before the first rains.

By April, new Spring flowers will return, some that have not been seen here in years.

A second burn site at Coal Oil Point is also part of the project to help with native grasses west of Storke Road in a former oil production area that is going through a major rehabilitation.

Students, staff and those researching the work from this fire project were on hand. Many were part of the vegetation clearing that was necessary before the fire was set by fire crews.

the burn went into a specific direction in the light winds to stay in the designated area. Hose lines were on all sides and firefighters were prepared in case there was a fire outside of the project zone.

(More detals, photos and video will be added here later today.)