POPPIES FROM HEAVEN GLIDERS DROP SEEDS FROM SKY.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

SYLMAR - In a high-flying Valentine to the San Fernando Valley, hang gliders took to the skies Monday and sprinkled poppy seeds over a hillside in hopes of seeing more of the orange flowers this spring.

The drop was the brainchild of Rome Dodson, a 76-year-old hang glider who solicited donations and recruited colleagues to make it happen.

``The plan is to turn Sylmar into the poppy capital of the San Fernando Valley,'' said Dodson, a member of the 200-member Sylmar Hang Gliding Club.

``They're beautiful and they're a real attraction. People come from 100 miles to see the poppy reserve in the Antelope Valley.

``We could have it right here in our own back yard.''

In all, seven gliders carried eight pounds of seeds aloft and sprinkled them on private property on Kagel Mountain above Sylmar.

Even though prime poppy-planting season is in the fall, plant experts said the rains forecast for today might help the seeds take root.

Some experts had raised concerns that the group was introducing a nonnative species that could crowd out native poppies, like those that bloom naturally at Antelope Valley's California Poppy Reserve.

But Dodson used California poppy seeds, which he bought from the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants Inc. - a Sun Valley-based organization that promotes the preservation of California's native flora.

Ray Smith, the deputy agricultural commissioner for Los Angeles County, who specializes in invasive plants, thought the stunt was benign.

``We don't care,'' he said, noting that he's more concerned about keeping out state-classified noxious weeds.

``Will they even survive, these seeds? It just doesn't seem like a serious issue.''

Dodson had gone on a one-man mission last year to promote California's state flower and scattered some seeds from his hang glider to see whether they would take hold. When they did, he started organizing Monday's event.

The Sylmar Chamber of Commerce donated $160 for four pounds of seeds, he said, and he's collecting the balance through donations to the Theodore Payne Foundation.

Club member Lynn McLaughlin was thrilled at the chance to scatter seeds as she flew tandem with her instructor.

``When we were flying over the grassy (area), it was incredible. It was perfect, it was lovely, it was great.

``I realized it was really a romantic thing to do ... For my mountain, for Sylmar, for the Valley.

``We're just really hoping this will take hold.''

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Mike Rafferty of the Sylmar Hang Gliding Club soars after scattering poppy seeds on a hillside on Monday.

(2) Hang glider Lynn McLaughlin shows the mixture of soil and seeds that the club's members dropped in the hopes of making Sylmar poppy capital of the Valley.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer