Catalina Island is making a comeback. Last spring, a contractor on the California island illegally used an open-flame torch to cut some steel cables. A spark set off a grass fire which quickly spread. 4,800 acres of chaparral, grassland and woods, parched by two years of drought, went up like a wad of newspaper.
A year later, aided by frequent rainstorms that sprinkled the area, trees and shrubs proved their resiliency by returning. Although some plants, like the island scrub oaks, may take up to 100 years to achieve their original grandeur, springtime’s wildflowers are already giving way to summer’s blooms.
Carlos de la Rosa, chief conservation officer of the Catalina Island Conservancysays that no trails are closed, no campgrounds are closed and, “Everyone who wants to see the plants coming back is going to have a real treat.”
Fire-followers, both native and non-native plants that flourish when the land has been swept free of other vegetation, are also becoming abundant. In one section, wild cucumber is so fruitful that the area is beginning to look like a botanical garden.
Besides taking care of the native fire-followers, the conservancy is also pulling up the non-natives, such as the flax-leaf broom, as fast as they sprout. They are also installing fencing to keep out the deer that have been eating the native plants.
It will take time for Catalina to get back to its past glory, but for now, with the re-growth of its plants and flowers, it is slowly rising from the ashes.
