Thanks to Southern California’s wet winter, the Santa Monica Mountains are alive with luminous purple phacelia and bright blue lupine flowers. But amid the joyful eruption of native wildflowers, an aggressive interloper has also returned.
Park officials want to prevent other invasive species from taking over the way mustard has come to dominate the landscape.
Black mustard covers the hillside in the Santa Monica Mountains. Mustard, which can grow over 6 feet is tall, is likely to dry up in the summer months, providing dangerous fuel for wildfires. It is those invasive grasses that carry the most risk for firefighters, said Ventura County Fire Capt. Kenneth VanWig. Once they are dry, invasive grasses can ignite easily and carry fire quickly.
Mustard plants themselves don’t carry fire particularly well, he said, but in a wind-driven fire, they will burn.
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