Forest Service Hopes Aerial Mulching Will Help King Fire Area During Weekend Storm

GEORGETOWN (CBS13) — Helicopters are battling soil erosion from the King Fire to keep the devastating wildfire from damaging even more property months after it was extinguished.

The pilot took a moment to refuel at Stumpy Meadows Lake near Georgetown before taking on the burned out forest.

The massive straw-shredding operation is aimed at stabilizing the landscape left weakened by the intense King Fire.

It's called aerial mulching and it's aimed at preventing destructive erosion. The straw cascades down to the ground, making a one-inch thick net over the land that's been weakened by September's King Fire.

"It forms an interlocking matrix pattern, so now when the raindrop comes down, it will land on the straw and in between these little gaps of the straw, and that's where the raindrop will be retained, rather than it just rolling off the bare hill slope," said Mary Moore with the U.S. Forest Service.

The $500,000 operation is partially funded by the Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District, which has two hydroelectric facilities nearby and a vested interest.

"The sediment that could come from this erosion could drastically decrease the storage in those reservoirs," said spokesman grant Nelson.

The riskiest areas are being targeted with the straw mulch. each chopper drops a ton of straw, which costs about $500. It takes just over a minute to load up and drop the mulch.

Crews hope the hillsides hold up during this weekend's rain.

"It does make us a little nervous," Moore said. "There's anywhere from four to seven inches of predicted rain, and we think at about 3 inches of rain we'll start seeing significant movement across the burn area."