CALABASAS/MALIBU : Supervisors Approve Reseeding of Fire Area
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County supervisors have approved the use of $393,000 in grass seed mix to prevent mudslides in the Calabasas/Malibu fire area, rejecting traditional rye grass, which would cost only $35,000 but was opposed by environmentalists.
The more expensive mix was included in a $440,000 reseeding contract with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service approved by the Board of Supervisors. Under the contract, county fire officials will use helicopters to reseed nearly 7,000 acres of the 18,000-acre fire zone stretching from Calabasas to Malibu in the Santa Monica Mountains west of Los Angeles.
The federal government will pay 75% of the cost because Los Angeles County was designated a federal disaster area.
Supervisor Ed Edelman urged his colleagues to approve the mix in part because environmentalists opposed the non-native--but fast growing--rye grass. The conservation service also recommended the expensive mixture, but some activists and officials with the National Park Service opposed any reseeding, saying it could compete with native plants.
The county agreed not to reseed 4,069 acres of the fire zone at the request of park officials.
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