Fire Returns to My Backyard · Episode 5 of 10 · 11 min
Marble Cone, 1977
In August 1977, after California's driest recorded year, two lightning fires merged and burned 177,866 acres of the Ventana Wilderness over three weeks. Commanders chose to protect the Carmel River watershed and let the wilderness burn. Winter rains then stripped the bare slopes, filling Los Padres Reservoir with sediment and marking the start of a long reburn sequence.
Who's who
- Myron Lee+1 more episodeFire boss who concentrated firelines to protect the Carmel watershed
- Al WestLos Padres forest supervisor; kept bulldozers out of wilderness ten days
- James R. GriffinBotanist who surveyed the burn and the surviving Santa Lucia firs
Where it happens
- Ventana Wilderness, California+2 more episodesAbout 80,000-85,000 of its 98,000 acres burned
- Big Sur River watershed, CaliforniaAbout 90 percent of upper-watershed vegetation burned
- Carmel River watershed, CaliforniaMunicipal water supply the firelines were built to save
- Los Padres Reservoir, CaliforniaLost about 18 percent of capacity to sediment in one winter
- Cone Peak, California+3 more episodesRugged interior where lightning struck; conifer islands
Timeline
- Winter 1974A severe snowstorm snaps oak, tanoak, and madrone, leaving deep dead fuel.
- 1976-1977Back-to-back drought, with 1977 the driest year recorded to that point.
- c. August 1, 1977Dry lightning ignites two fires near Marble Peak and Cone Peak that merge.
- c. August 20, 1977Containment at 177,866 acres; the Washington Post runs "Watershed Saved, Wilderness Lost."
- Winter 1977-78Heavy rain on the burn sends about 685,000 cubic meters of sediment into the reservoir.
Still debated
Whether triaging the watershed over the wilderness was rational is argued: commanders cited drought, terrain, and the Wilderness Act, while local accounts note idle equipment and large backfires. A claim that the fire was allowed to grow past a budget threshold was never substantiated.