Green goo helps protect fire areas from mudslides

The charred hillsides of the Charlotte Fire area in Pocatello have begun turning green as part of an anti-erosion effort.

It’s a green hydro-seeding mixture, designed to keep areas already devastated by fire safe from mudslides.

Near where spray trucks sprayed the mixture over the blackened ground on Wednesday, Doug Hagen was in the process of rebuilding after getting hit hard by the Charlotte Fire.

“I lost it all. The truck, house and everything in it,” Hagen said.

Like many in the area his home is at the base of a slope, so recent rains have made him keep a watchful eye on the hillsides.

“Last thing we need to do now is dig out from under a mountain. So that’s a big concern right now,” Hagen said.

The local company Anderson Hydroseeding got the contract to spray the mixture of mulch and seed over the burned area.

“It should make a big difference. It will really help once that seed takes place,” Anderson Hydroseeding co-founder Joel Anderson said.

But it’s a big job, and getting these hillsides covered has to happen before winter weather brings snow here to stay.

“We’re working sunup till sundown, six days a week, going as quick as we can,” Anderson said.

Hagen said seeing the hydroseeding going on takes a lot of worry off his mind, and that he’s even a fan of the green.

“It looks better already. Those black and grays and browns get a little old,” Hagen said.