FOREST FIRE DAMAGE ASSESSED EXPERTS ANALYZE ENVIRONMENT.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - Federal government experts are examining the 23,400 acres of blackened hills and creek sides left by the San Francisquito Canyon fire.

They are assessing the environmental damage done and what work will be necessary to head off mudslides or flooding next winter.

``The big problem is if we get a lot of rain right off the bat,'' said Cid Morgan, ranger for Angeles National Forest's Santa Clara River/Mojave Rivers district.

Even before all the flames were out, the Forest Service called in an airplane to fly over the burn area and take infrared photographs, from which the temperatures to which the hills were exposed can be calculated.

The Forest Service has activated what it calls a BAER team - or Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation - to study the effects of the fire on the watershed and to recommend actions to reduce erosion and head off property damage.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists will assess damage to threatened or endangered species, which in San Francisquito Canyon include the California red-legged frog and the unarmored three-spined stickleback, a fish.

U.S. Geological Survey experts also will examine the San Francisquito creek bed.

``It was pretty toasted,'' Morgan said of the creek.

Los Angeles County officials will be involved in examining potential problems areas for roads, primarily San Francisquito Canyon Road. If fire debris and mud and rocks wash down into culverts, canyon roads could flood or wash out.

Officials aren't sure what to expert next winter in terms of rainfall. Last winter was the driest on record for Los Angeles, but federal forecasters are predicting a ``a weak-to-moderate'' El Nino condition next fall and winter.

The 1997-98 and 1982-83 El Ninos, which produced heavy rainfall in Southern California, were categorized as very strong ones.

While the San Francisquito Canyon fire was severe, in most areas it was not intense - meaning new vegetation will sprout quickly.

``It didn't cook the ground,'' Morgan said.

Even before the San Francisquito Canyon fire broke out on June 5, forest officials were examining what to do about the earlier Bouquet Canyon fire, which blackened almost 5,000 acres. They expect to hear in a week or two how much money they will get for rehabilitation and erosion control efforts for the earlier fire.

Recommendations for the Bouquet Canyon area include placing metal poles in dry creek beds to keep fire debris and rocks from clogging culverts and placing straw bales behind the creek-side homes.

Although sandbags will dam up water, until the dike blows out and causes a flood, baled straw holds back silt and rocks but lets the water through.

Reseeding operations are not expected to be part of either fire's rehabilitation, Morgan said. Seeds scattered now won't have enough moisture to sprout.

``What's happened in the past is all we've done is feed a lot of mice,'' Morgan said.