Greenbelt Of Oak Trees May Prevent 101 Chimney Effect Upwind of Malibu
Written by 991KBU on May 18, 2021
A dozen oak tree saplings were planted just north of the 101 freeway in Calabasas last week.
It’s part of a plan to convert both sides of a four mile stretch of the freeway from a fire corridor leading towards Malibu … into a green fire break.
The brown hillsides along the 101 at Liberty Canyon are where the Woolsey Fire jumped the 101 … the night of November Ninth 2018.
Other small fires that started along the 101 near the Malibu Canyon cutoff have burned all the way to the Malibu Lagoon in 12 hours.
Oak trees prevent the spread of the brushy grass …. which spread fire rapidly.
More oak trees may mean less fire.
That’s the hope of Mary Sue Maurer … mayor pro tem in Calabasas… says a four mile strip of the 101 will get oak trees planted.
NEWSCART 73473 MARY SUE MAURER
“This is an exciting project to plant ember-proof plants all along the 101 corridor … in different patches on either side … the most flammable at risk places … from Mureau Road all the way to Chesebro.
“This type of preventative planting is not something we have seen before and it is exciting and i hope to see more.”
Finding for the new oak trees is coming from Sacramento … part of the half billion dollars in fire prevention and mitigation money from Governor Gavin Newsom and the giant tax surplus.
It may take a few years for the oaks to make a substantial fire break there … as the saplings right now are about six feet high.
But you know the saying about giant oak trees growing from little acorns. One disturbing note … however.
The baby oak trees were surrounded with bark … decorative redwood chips… which burn like crazy and are actually illegal in Malibu for landscaping use.
