The Los Angeles Times had a story yesterday that took a different look than my story at the effects of the frequent wildfire on habitat throughout Southern California.
The Times reports on the potential effects on drinking water reservoirs:
San Diego water officials also fear that runoff from burned areas will cascade down the denuded slopes above Hodges, Sutherland and Barrett reservoirs, where fires burned nearly to shorelines. “Keep Out” signs are being posted to try to prevent off-road vehicle users and cyclists from breaking through the crusty soil and creating gullies and ravines.
And the Times adds perspective on the fire’s potential effects on a few rare species found in San Diego.
The coastal cactus wren, a large songbird with a chortling call, and two rare species of butterfly appear to have lost their largest known populations in the Witch and Santiago fires. The cactus wren, which hunkers down rather than flying away during blazes, nests in mature, decades-old stands of prickly pear cactus. Many of those cactuses are now melted ruins.