``DIRT GUY'' IS NO CLOD SCIENTIST IDENTIFIES UNIQUE SOILS IN SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS.

Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News

For three years, Al Wasner has been trying to get the dirt on the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Wasner, known simply as the ``Dirt Guy,'' uses his pick, shovel and pickup truck to scour the area. Almost daily, the 44-year-old U.S. Department of Agriculture soil scientist takes a ribbing as if he were an eccentric digging for oil or gold.

He has not found either, but his work as part of the National Resources Conservation Service soil study has produced some big finds. Wasner, the project leader of a five-member group, expects to find more before his five-year study of the 150,000-acre region is completed in May.

The findings by Wasner, Louis Alberti, Daniel Johnson, Curtis Talbot and Ken Oster will be detailed in a manuscript to be published in December of 2001.

For Wasner, the discoveries have been hardly earth-shattering, considering there are more than 100,000 soils identified in the U.S. Still, his study is the first soil mapping of the area in more than 30 years.

``Science has changed tremendously,'' Wasner said. ``When they did those studies, there were ecological concepts we did not know 30 years ago.''

But the tools remain relatively unchanged. There is no laboratory analysis. Wasner, who carries a backpack full of reference, examines the soil by texture and composition.

``You are kind of like a private eye trying to figure it all out,'' Wasner said. ``You look at it as a package. Why do you have strange bushes on one side of the mountain and why does it not grow on the other. It is like putting two and two together and slowly evolving a picture. One of the fun parts of the job is getting to name a soil which does not exist elsewhere.''

As of yet, there is not a ``Wasner'' soil. Instead, he has named his soils after the Chumash and Tongva native Americans, who were inhabitants of the area more than 1,000 years ago.

``Al delves into the subject deeply and is not satisfied until there is some type of agreement technically,'' said Johnson, a USDA Supervisory soil scientist of the South Coast and Desert Areas who oversees Wasner. ``There is a lot of enthusiasm in his work.''

Wasner's work, a maintenance update commissioned by the National Park Service, will be used to identify soil areas where roads can or cannot be built or to spot erosion and slippage trouble for construction.

Wasner, who has made more than 800 excavations, is careful to restore an area to its original condition and to stay off private property. On occasion, residents have solicited Wasner's expertise to bore holes for fence posts with his auger, a drill-like digging tool.

Although he informs residents of his work in the area, Wasner has often been confronted by those suspecting he is digging a grave. But police officers, who have responded to numerous calls and know Wasner by name, are quick to resolve the issue.

He does not hesitate to lend a hand when needed. He discovered an injured mountain biker, who needed to be airlifted to the hospital, while working in Point Mugu. He also found a hiker who required medical attention.

``A lot of soil scientists are reticent and solitary people who spend a lot of time in the field alone,'' Johnson said. ``Al enjoys the interaction with people and when someone who may not be involved in soils has a question, he is very quick to be informative.''

When Wasner has completed the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the Oxnard resident will perform a similar study at the Channel Islands National Park.

Wasner began his 22-year USDA career with a 10-year project mapping the soils of 2 1/2-million acres in Northern Nevada. He also undertook a nine-year study of 250,000 acres in Tulare County before coming to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in 1997.

``It is quite a sense of accomplishment to finish a project,'' Wasner said. ``The bad part is leaving everybody, getting a new mortgage and starting over.''

The Santa Monicas, although small in area compared to Wasner's previous projects, has offered challenges with its rough terrain, rattlesnakes, dense vegetation, scorpions and ticks.

``The Santa Monica Mountains is relatively small,'' Wasner said. ``It is a pimple, but it is an interesting part of the world with all the canyons and creeks. Some of the nicest places are hidden off the road where most of the park people have never seen.''

What has left the greatest impact on Wasner has been the relationships with park visitors and staff in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Wasner, who also worked in the Midwest, didn't expect this.

``I have worked in Kansas, the land of the Wizard of Oz, but I have never met any nicer people,'' Wasner said. ``It is totally the opposite of what I had been told. It has made it enjoyable meeting some of the really nicest people from Calabasas to Malibu.''

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Photo: (color) Alan Wasner, a soil scientist for the the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is conducting a 5-year survey of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.