Fourteen months after authorities contained the devastating Station Fire, representatives from several agencies converged on Van de Kamp Hall at Descanso Gardens with one overriding message: There is not a one-size fits all solution to repair the ecological ruin.

"The point of today is not [to say] that fire is bad, but to point out the scope and scale of the Station Fire, which was unlike anything we've experienced in our human history here,'' said Judy Noiron, forest supervisor for the San Bernardino National Forest.

Noiron was one of a variety of representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, Los Angeles city officials and the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council who addressed roughly 200 people Thursday on the progress of reforestation in the Angeles National Forest. Speakers also pointed out that the blaze adversely affected multiple ecosystems, not just the chaparral or deciduous trees.

The largest fire in Los Angeles County history, the Station Fire sparked Aug. 26, 2009, about two miles north of La Cañada along Angeles Crest Highway. It raged for nearly two months—scorching 89 homes and some 160,000 acres—before it was fully contained.

The blaze burned 25 percent of the Angeles National Forest land base, Noiron said, adding that forest comprises 70 percent of all open space in the county. Taxpayers spent $95.3 million on the firefighting efforts.

An act of arson and homicide--two Los Angeles County firefighters died when their rig plunged over an embankment--the fire consumed 252 square miles--three and a half times the size of Catalina Island, Noiron said, noting that's a lot of space where trees need to be replanted.

And that planting will begin this spring.

The plan is to plant 4,200 acres of trees per year over the next three years. The Forest Service will work with Tree People, an environmental nonprofit organization, beginning in the spring, said Lisa Northrop, resources and planning officer for the United States Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service.

For now, the biggest concern in the burned-out forest is rain. Authorities described the Southern California cycle as fire, flood, mud.

"It's going to take three to five years for the watershed to recover or stabilize. It is all part of the cycle that has been going on for centuries,'' Noiron said.

The idea is not to put everything back where it was but to identify treatments to burned areas and preclude further damage–damage that can result from invasive species cropping up in the charred landscape, she said. Non-native species such as noxious weeds began sprouting up shortly after fire containment.

And while the Forest Service may not be popular for keeping closed trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, it is essential that they remain closed because they're  vulnerable to these invasive species, and many of the trail heads are dangerous because they now abut perilously steep drop-offs.

A botanist working in the ANF since 2008, Katie VinZant said she feels positive that in one year shrubs have grown back to between 1 and 2 feet high in parts of the forest.

Still, there is a "momentous'' task in front of them. Areas forest officials are focusing on most include the riparian zones–places where land and water interface–because that area is the "forest lifeblood,'' used frequently by wildlife, she added. Another hot spot officials are paying special attention to is the 130 miles of land ripped up by bulldozers following containment efforts. Pushing the soil around breeds disturbance, which leads to higher weed growth, she said.

"The bottom line, across the board, … I'm pretty impressed with how well [the forest is] responding'' VinZant said.