Orange County Register

A weekend wildfire scorched nearly all of the 14,102-acre Chino Hills State Park, state parks officials said Monday, turning an estimated 90 percent of the park to blackened ground, ash and denuded branches.

About 13,000 acres burned, said park superintendent John Rowe, leaving some trees, patches of ground and ravines undamaged but otherwise consuming nearly the entire park.

The only piece that didn’t burn, in fact, was Coal Canyon, a 650-acre parcel across the 91freeway from the park that was purchased for preservation in 2000 and added to Chino Hills park.

A glimmer of good news: rare native walnut trees, while damaged, will likely make it through. (Firefighters attack flames in Chino Hills in this AP photo).

“It didn’t get super hot to destroy trees in the park,” Rowe said. “Some are, but a lot of them will recover. Grassland, sage communities — those were burned. Some of that will recover, some will not.”

The park’s buildings, including restrooms, a ranger residence and the Rolling M Ranch also were not damaged; a 20-space campground also was left unscathed.

Still, as always after autumn wildfires in Southern California, the next big worry is rain. Although the region has been gripped by drought, no one can be sure whether the coming rainy season will be a wet one.

“If we have rains over an inch, we’re immediately going to have serious erosion issues,” said Ken Kietzer, environmental scientist for the inland empire district of California State Parks.

On the other hand, a series of light rains would be helpful, allowing plants to resprout from burned remnants.

The park will remain closed for at least two week, Rowe said, as Kietzer and other scientists conduct assessments of ecological damage.

Erosion and potential debris flows are a big concern.

But, while scientists worry over the park’s plants and animals, they can sometimes prove remarkably resilient after wildfire.

A number of rabbits didn’t escape the flames; their carcasses were in evidence as parks officials scanned the debris, Kietzer said. But that might be a good sign.

“All I saw yesterday were rabbits,” he said when asked about animal carcasses. “That makes me optimistic.”

Even better, Kietzer saw a living coyote, deer, rattlesnake and a number of lizards. Burrowing animals are often known to escape harm by retreating underground until the fire has passed.

“While the park is severely burned, animals did survive,” Kietzer said. Until the scientists can make a complete assessment, however, the extent of dead wildlife won’t be known.

Endangered and threatened bird species such as the least Bell’s vireo and the California gnatcatcher also live in the park. Kietzer hopes they will be able to make use of coal canyon as a refuge area until the habitat in Chino Hills State Park grows back.

“Another concern is the native vegetation. Although adapted to tolerate some wildfire, If the coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitats found in the park burn too frequently there’s a risk of “type conversion”: non-native weeds, for example, replacing what used to be robust stands of native shrubs and trees.

Scientists will be monitoring the regrowth at the park for signs of such a type conversion.

Setting aside Coal Canyon, he said, turned out to have been a lucky break. The canyon links Chino Hills State Park through a corridor beneath the freeway to the Cleveland National Forest.

“The south side of the 91, Coal Canyon, did not burn,” Kietzer said. “That’s an important refugia and corridor for movement. It’s a big success.”

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