A herd of skittish deer charged through tbe Waldo Canyon burn scar Tuesday morning, fleeing from wood chips showered on them from a helicopter. The bucks bounded between charred trees and soared over blooming fireweed and aspen saplings that had taken root since flames raged through the area more than two months ago.

As the forest has moved into its own recovery mode from the fire, which started on June 23 and scorched 14,270 acres of forest service lands, U.S. Forest Service teams have joined the decades-long process of helping the forest regenerate while protecting homes and local watersheds from mudslides and sediment build-up.

Mary Moore, a Forest Service hydrologist, watched the deer scatter while the helicopter, commissioned by Moore’s team, dumped brown wood chips on the black forest floor. She pointed out both to a collection of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials.

The officials were there to see what the Forest Service and its Burned Area Emergency Response, or BAER, team is doing to impede the sliding of mud, ash and other unwanted debris into watersheds and reservoirs as well as homes in Cascade and Woodland Park. Moore, the BAER team leader, has assessed the soil damage for weeks, but recently she and her team started the biggest step toward recovery: They are using a helicopter to cover 3,038 burned acres with thousands of pounds of woodchips, designed to prevent water erosion.

“It will basically bomb the hillside with mulch,” Moore told the group.

They watched as the helicopter, flown by Brad Bauder, lifted a 2,000-pound cargo net full of woodchips and dumped the load across an acre of the forest. Using the helicopter Bauder can cover between 50 and 60 acres a day with mulch.

By Thursday, the $4.8 million aerial-mulching project will include five helicopters using at least 10 pick-up sites, Moore said. The project will go on for 30 days.

Mulching a burn scar has been a popular Forest Service practice for years. The layers of woodchips or straw emulate pine needles or leaves that stop flood waters from freely coursing down drainages. Moore was excited by the type of woodchip being used: “wood shred” is relatively new, Moore said.

“We don’t want square-platted woodchips,” Moore explained. “We want long and lean mulch that interlocks, forming small catchment basins where moisture can be retained.”

The long, overlapping shreds of wood will catch debris and prevent raindrops from quickly running downhill into larger, more dangerous pools. The mulch plan targets sections of the forest with the greatest run-off potential — drainages and slopes near watersheds and reservoirs, as well as drainages that could empty debris onto Highway 24, as a storm did a month ago. The steepest slopes will be covered with the heavy wood shred, while others will be dusted with straw.

Many trees that were burned in the fire will be cut down and turned into wood shred.

Nancy Stoner, acting assistant administrator for Water Programs with the EPA, said understanding the repercussions of a large wildfire is becoming increasingly relevant.

“We’re increasingly seeing forest fires impacting water quality, and we’re trying to learn about this,” she said.

The EPA could help channel federal money to Colorado Springs Utilities and other water resource organizations, she said.

Utilities watershed planner Mark Shea said financial help may be needed. Based upon efforts following the Hayman fire in 2002, Utilities could be struggling with Waldo Canyon fire forest runoff and water concerns 10 years down the road.

Shea, who helped guide Tuesday’s tour, ended it with a stop in the Devil’s Kitchen area off Rampart Range Road. He pointed to a drainage ditch that was swollen with mud and broken trees.

“We know it’s going to look like this for potentially five to 10 years,” he said.

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Contact Ryan Maye Handy: 626-0261

Twitter @ryanmhandy