Group sorts planting plans

A local reforestation committee is inviting volunteers to participate in a training event this weekend at the Lytle Creek Ranger Station in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The one-day session, which will take place today and Sunday, will prepare participants to supervise citizen replanting efforts in the Angeles National Forest, much of which was left barren by the massive Station fire.

Officials have been gearing up for a large-scale replanting effort for millions of saplings that experts say will be needed in the coming years to put the forest on the path to recovery.

The Foothill Communities Reforestation Committee, established in the wake of the devastating fire, is leading a grass-roots effort to raise funds and attract volunteers as part of the reforestation of local hillsides.

The committee has been drumming up support at community events during the last two months, according to committee member Beth Olhasso.

“We need to step up and have the neighbor-helping-neighbor type approach to the reforesting project that the Forest Service is currently conducting,” Olhasso said.

The Station fire, the largest in Los Angeles County history, burned more than 160,000 acres and was blamed for the death of two Los Angeles County firefighters. It also primed the Angeles National Forest for massive debris flows, which are expected to plague foothill communities for the next three to five years.

Participants in this weekend’s training session, which is being put on by the U.S. Forest Service, the nonprofit organization Tree People, and the San Bernardino National Forest Assn., will learn how to properly plant 18-inch saplings. They will also learn tool and safety techniques, said Laurie Kaufman, director of communications for Tree People.

“We want people, when they finish coming to one of our planting events, to fee like, ‘That was great. I want to come again, and I want to bring one of my friends,’” Kaufman said.

The U.S. Forest Service has estimated it will need to plant 3.4 million saplings during a three-year span, starting in 2011, to put the forest on the road to recovery.

Replanting the ecosystem in a timely manner will jump-start the process of stabilizing the hillsides and protecting hillside La Cañada neighborhoods, Olhasso said.

The reforestation committee is also hosting an informational meeting March 20 at the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA. Representatives from the U.S. Forest Service and Tree People will be there to outline the replanting schedule, as well as clarify misinformation and answer questions, committee member Sue Stranger said.

“People are irate that they are not planting right now,” Stranger said. “Well, you can’t plant right now. A lot of stuff has to happen to the earth [first].”