#station fire

Beginning late August 2009, the Station Fire burned 160,577 acres along the San Gabriel Mountains just north of the Los Angeles basin.   The damage included a number of miles of the PCT that passed through mature stands of ponderosa pine.  I hiked through that area in May, 2009 when it looked like this.

The fire was devastating. It burned for nearly two months leaving a charred landscape.  But concerted efforts were made to re-forest this area.

Seeds and seedlings were planted.  These bags of seeds were part of the effort.

However, when I passed through on the PCT in 2018, the landscape was returning as chaparral.  The diminished annual rainfall may just not be enough to support the return of the magnificent forest.  It is a sad story being repeated all too often along the PCT where fires burn so hot that few trees survive and the climate of 2010 on is too dry to support new tree growth.  For me, this was a stunning visual reminder of the impact of our changing climate.

By Rees Hughes

I spent a little time thinking about where I was on the PCT 11 years ago . . . that would have been Wednesday, June 3, 2009. I was near the end of a 300-mile long section hike with my nephew, Taylor.  The day began at Sulphur Springs Campground and ended some 24 miles away at Messenger Flats Campground, nestled on a forested saddle at some 5,500′.  It was an unusual day of Southern California rain with some adrenalin-pumping periods of lightning until the late afternoon when the sun emerged triumphant and the skies cleared.  The top photo is from the end of that day.  Both my notes and my memory remember this stretch of the PCT as one blessed by a blanket of stately trees.

In late August of that year the Station Fire ignited and over nearly two months incinerated some 160,000 acres much of which was located in the area I walked on June 3rd. 

I returned in 2018 and walked from Cajon Pass to Agua Dulce with my long-time hiking partner and co-editor of this website, Howard Shapiro.  I was shocked by the devastation we encountered descending to the new Mill Creek Summit Fire Station and off and on to Messenger Flats and beyond. I spoke with an employee at the fire station who reinforced the rumor I had heard that the fire had been started by “witches” who came to the backcountry to perform rituals.

Despite efforts to replant trees across the firescape, the climate had changed such that temperatures had increased enough and precipitation had decreased enough that the seedlings were generally unable to survive.  The reality is that this once beautiful stretch of forest will convert to chaparral. The photo below stands in stark contrast to what I had encountered in 2009.

So these days, I treat June 3rd as a second Earth Day each year.  It is a time for me to renew my own commitment to treat the Earth with respect and care and to walk gently as I go . . .