If its less than a thousand feet, I would suggest using cheap fake grass as a cover till Spring. Straw will likely just get buried in the top soil.

Scott

Our deck was done a few weeks ago, we got a semi-final grade done, everything too wet for a good final grade so we seeded and laid down that green erosion control curlex, gonna wait until spring (and after plaster) for a final grading and seeding. I'm pretty sure all the seed was washed away last week in Sandy so its a crap shoot if anything starts to grow. The curlex will do a decent job of keeping the dirt from moving around too much.