Several times this summer, my co-intern, Patrick, and I have been up to Lake County, CA to scout and collect seeds on BLM Land. The interior chapparal surrounding the San Joaquin Valley is the best habitat to look for unique plant species in the region, despite being decimated by the intense drought this year. In Lake County, we had our eyes on a particular population of Western Redbud (Cercis orbiculata), and we had already factored it into our SOS list. We kept ourselves busy as we patiently waited for the seeds to mature, but we were definitely anxious to go back. Redbud has these excellent qualities that only other SOS interns can appreciate: the plants are easily identifiable and difficult to confuse; the fruits grow at eye level; there are plenty of seeds per pod and plenty of pods per tree; there are no spines, resins, or irritating hairs; and bags of seed are lightweight, pest-free, and odorless. Yesiree, we wanted that seed. So when the time came to pack up the truck and head out, we were horrified to hear that the night before, two wildfires had spung up on either side of the collection site.
The Wye and Walker fires blazed for nearly a week and we had no idea whether our areas of interest had been swallowed by the conflagration. Any attempts to contact the field office were answered only by messages of staff on fire duty. When the fires had been contained, there had, luckily, been little damage. Only two structures were destroyed and there was only three injuries. The acreage burned, 7,934, was a flash in the pan compared to the larger fires seen in Colorado and elsewhere earlier this year, and all BLM areas were reopened almost immediately.
Being from the east coast, fire has never been on my radar. I had no idea what to expect. We drove up to the area and everything seemed normal, but as we rounded a corner, the scenery suddenly changed. The rolling uplands we had seen before had been transformed into an otherwordly landscape blackened, charred and covered with ash. What really piqued my interest was the realization that the fire had only engulfed one side of the highway. We were subsequently fortune in being able to complete our collections, but I couldn’t help but picture the fire crews working tirelessly to hold that line. It was amazing to me, truly-eye opening to see how a small stretch of pavement could make that difference as a fire break and how close this:
had come to looking like this:
Marc Bliss