POCATELLO — Scores of residents from the Charlotte Fire area enthusiastically signed waivers to allow hydro-seeding of the hills around their properties during a meeting held Tuesday in a packed Bannock County Commission chambers.
“I’m so excited about this,” said Kari Bull, a resident of Andee K Lane whose home was spared by the flames. Andee K Lane is located near Autumn Lane, an area hit hard by the fire that destroyed 66 homes in the area. The June 28 fire also left barren hillsides that could pose a runoff and erosion nightmare in the spring if nothing is done to stabilize the soil.
Using aerial maps with colored zones to distinguish the types of application — ground or air — district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) David Schmidt walked through the proposed project. The nearly $1 million project could begin as soon as the third week in October. With the county contributing a 25 percent match with in-kind labor and equipment in the mix, the bulk of the funding is coming from the federal Emergency Watershed Protection Program.
Bannock County Commissioner Howard Manwaring said everyone thought it was a long shot when the county applied for federal help.
“We feel really fortunate,” Manwaring said. He also tipped his hat to the support given to the project by Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
“It’s a great project to help stabilize that ground,” Manwaring said.
Schmidt walked the people attending the meeting through the process of hydro-seeding much of the more than 1,000 acres burned in the fire.
“Not all areas will be seeded,” Schmidt said, adding that flatter terrain that is less likely to erode will be allowed to naturally regenerate a ground cover. It’s the steep hillsides in the fire area that have NRCS officials concerned.
Once waivers have been received from private landowners and contracts for the work have been improved, those naked hillsides will be attacked from the ground and air with a combination of grass and forbs locked in a blue mulch. Schmidt said about 3,000 gallons of water per acre will be added to the mix which he called “blue goo.”
Schmidt said seeding efforts will try to get close to existing structures, but aerial applications will leave about a 150-foot buffer around structures. The planes dropping the mulch from the air will be guided by GPS and drop loads in seven-foot strips.
Residents will be alerted when aerial applications are going to take place.
“We may even close some roads temporarily,” Schmidt said. “We will stop traffic to keep people from getting a load of blue junk on them.”
The conservationist said people should be aware of the fact the fire’s impact on the local vegetation, which was largely comprised of juniper stands, will alter the hydrology and drainage of the area following rainstorms and snowmelt.
“Things are going to get different,” Schmidt said.
One of those things will be the amount of moisture that reaches the ground. He said juniper canopies block a lot of rainfall and the trees themselves pull a lot of water from the soil. Schmidt anticipates runoff water in some draws that hasn’t happened in years.
“That’s not to say you’re going to be fishing for trout in them,” Schmidt said, drawing laughter from the packed room.
Questions about the waiver of liability surfaced and county attorney Zach Parris said the waivers only take the county off the hook for liability. However, if a plane crashed into a house while hydro-seeding, the owner would still be able to file a suit, just not against the county for approving the project.
“The waiver is to protect us,” the county attorney said.
County Commission Chairman Karl Anderson said he appreciated the landowners’ support.
“It’s a good process,” he said. “It’s the best way to go.”