CONDORS FEARED LOST; NO TRACE OF BIRDS SINCE PIRU WILDFIRE.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST - Two months after wildfire raged through forestland near the hamlet of Piru, there are still no signs of Nos. 202 and 268.

Forest Service crews have searched the charred acreage for their remains, peering through the twisted black chaparral, the skeletons of mighty oaks and sycamores. But two of the magnificent raptors that mark man's battle to save the California condor from extinction are nowhere to be found.

``It appears that two condors were lost during the fire,'' said David Freed, the condor-recovering liaison for the U.S. Forest Service at the Hopper Canyon Wildlife refuge near Fillmore. ``We never recovered the bodies, but they were seen the day before the fire and daily before that. They had radios on them, but they just disappeared.''

The fire started Oct. 23 and burned about 68,000 acres, threatening the towns of Piru and Fillmore before retreating deep into the Los Padres National Forest. The flames burned so quickly they didn't damage soil and root structures, meaning it won't be long before plant life returns, said Al Hess, a resource officer in the Forest Service's Ojai district.

But losing the two condors - No. 202 was a 5-year-old male; No. 268, a 2-year-old female - is tough, Freed said.

``That's a blow to the program,'' he said of the 16-year effort to bolster the population of the endangered condors.

There were 24 condors at Hopper, adjacent to Los Padres. The birds are free to roam - they've been know to fly 20 miles a day - but they tend to return because the refuge offers a supplemental feeding program and ``they know that,'' Freed said. The food is necessary because condors have died of lead poisoning from consuming bullets hidden in wildlife killed by hunters.

Meanwhile, crews have assessed the damage in the forest and have set Jan. 16 as a target date to rebuild culverts too small to handle possible mudflow and debris from the denuded hillsides.

Roads must be stabilized and repaved, work that is being rushed to beat the rainy season, said Forest Service spokeswoman Beth Wilson. And the terrain is being slightly altered in some areas to keep debris flows off the roads.

The cost of the reconstruction is estimated at $2.3 million.

``We're working against Mother Nature's time frame. Every day is crucial,'' Wilson said. ``We're working 12-hour days, and our window of opportunity lessens every day.''

The burn area of the Los Padres remains closed because the flood and debris flow potential in a storm could be dangerous, Wilson said.

What workers are hoping for is light rain to help regrow the vegetation, rather than heavy storms that will uproot what is left holding the scorched soil in place.

Hess said the outlook for regrowth is good. Experts found that the wind- whipped fire moved through so quickly it did not damage the soil, Hess said. Chaparral comes back after fire and already is doing so in some areas, he said.

Some of the live oaks are severely burned and only time will tell whether they shed the charred branches and survive, he said.

``Oaks, they can be burned quite severely and still recover,'' he said. ``Sometimes they sprout from their roots, sometimes from the branches.''

Freed holds out a similar hope - albeit a slight one - for the condors.

``There's still a remote, outside chance that one or both birds could come back,'' he said. ``It was an extreme event, particularly for that young bird. It might have been scared and took off. Chances are not good, but it's not out of the question.''

Patricia Farrell Aidem, [phone]

pat.aidem(at)dailynews.com