Straw from the sky: Effort will fight erosion Rice straw drifted down slowly in heaps onto sloped hillsides Monday in areas near Concow Reservoir that burned this summer. The straw will help control erosion and lead to new vegetation on 793 acres. Weedless straw is taken from bales, "fluffed up" and put into nets that are hauled by helicopter and dropped onto burned areas. Most of the areas where straw landed Monday have 30 percent to 40 percent slopes, explained Herman Wendell, road maintenance team leader for the U.S. Forest Service, Feather River Ranger district. Two nets filled with about 500 pounds of rice straw were taken on each helicopter drop maneuvered by pilot Clint Burke. The goal of the pilot is to spread the straw one inch thick....