NICOLE ALBERTSON
News Assistant
Now that the flames have cooled and the embers have come to rest, a new danger has stepped up to threaten Pepperdine. Though it has been a dry year the winter months are looming and the pending rainstorms raise the probability of mudslides near campus. Pepperdine escaped the fire with minimal damage, but the scorched landscaping surrounding campus left the soil dry and loose, the perfect condition for mudslides.
“It is a matter of probability and weather condition,” said Steve Davis, Distinguished Professor of Biology. “It all depends on when the rain comes and how intense it is when it arrives.”
But Pepperdine is taking precautions to guard against any mudslide or floods that could occur this wet season. The landscaping team has already cleaned out the debris basin at Winter Canyon and is ready to stock pile sandbags when the rain begins to flow.
“We have already emptied the Winter Canyon debris basin with 60 dump truck loads of debris,” Leach said.
One of the largest problem areas is Winter Canyon, directly across from the Theme Tower on Seaver Drive. The area was completely burned in the recent fire and has now become the largest mudslide threat, said Director of Facilities and Management Rick Leach. The team is working to slow down the water flow so that debris will fall loose from the water and not clog drains or flow into streets.
Winter Canyon is almost completely rock, making it hard to control the soil underneath, according to Leach. But the amount of rocks on top also mean less soil and mud to come loose, so the slope could be more stable.
Another problem area is the ridge that also burned in last month’s fire. But due to the natural growth under the ridge “the flow will naturally thin out,” Leach said.
Although several areas surrounding Pepperdine’s campus were scorched, the preexisting landscaping is helping to secure the soil and prevent mudslides, according to Davis.
“The roots of the shrubs on the hills side are more than 40–feet deep,” Davis said. “The roots help to stabilize the slope. When then deep roots hold the slope in place it reduces the probability of mudslides.”
Mudslides, though, are not the only threat to Pepperdine soil. Surface erosion could create more water runoff on campus, according to Davis.
The recent heat waves have caused the soil to expand and loose, creating dry rubble that is already falling down from the hillside, said Davis. Chemicals are also released when the plants burn and create what is called a vanish layer on top of the soil. The vanish layer prevents water from penetrating the soil, and therefore creates more water runoff.
Pepperdine students are also concerned about the pending mudslides because of the fire damage. Previous years have been plagued with rock and mudslides that have closed Malibu Canyon.
“Every year that I have been at Pepperdine, Malibu Canyon has closed at some point during the winter because of rock slides or mud slides,” said senior Lecca Roberts. “I can’t even imagine what will happen now that the fire burned all of the landscaping around us. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t rain that much so we don’t have to worry about it.”
While Pepperdine has not experienced serious damage from mudslides, previous wet years have prepared the landscaping team to handle threatening slides. Drescher campus experienced problems when it was initially built in 2003 because the new soil was loose and unstable, according to Leech.
A mudslide that occurred more than nine years ago in between the George Page Residence Hall and the Faculty housing is still using a payrail– a concrete petition often used on the freeway during construction–– to hold the soil steady.
“We are keeping an eye on all that very closely,” Leach said. “We are trying to keep [the debris basins] clear and get [the water] to go where we want it to go.”
The weather will be with Malibu this season, as there are already good predictions of a La Nina– a relatively dry season, according to Davis. Malibu has only received 0.01 inches of rain so far in Nov., which is low compared to the average 1.02 inches expected in Nov., according to the Weather Channel Web site.
“Five inches of rain in one day could cause some problems,” Leach said. “But we will deal with those as the come up. We don’t anticipate any flows across campus. Seaver is much more stable.”
11-15-2007
