Bare soil and rill formation following wildfires, fuel reduction treatments, and pine plantations in the southern Sierra Nevada, California, USA1
Neil H. Berg A C and David L. Azuma B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 800 Buchanan Street, West Bldg, Albany, CA 94710, USA.
B USDA Forest Service, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, PO Box 3890, Portland, OR 97208-3890, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: nberg@ladybuglan.com
International Journal of Wildland Fire 19(4) 478-489 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF07169
Submitted: 29 November 2007 Accepted: 19 October 2009 Published: 24 June 2010
Abstract
Accelerated erosion commonly occurs after wildfires on forested lands. As burned areas recover, erosion returns towards prefire rates depending on many site-specific characteristics, including fire severity, vegetation type, soil type and climate. In some areas, erosion recovery can be rapid, particularly where revegetation is quick. Erosion recovery is less well understood for many fuel load reduction treatments. The rate of post-disturbance erosion recovery affects management options for forested lands, particularly when considering the combined ramifications of multiple disturbances on resource recovery rates (i.e. cumulative watershed effects). Measurements of percentage bare soil and rilling on over 600 plots in the southern Sierra Nevada with slopes less than 75% and within 1 km of roads were made between 2004 and 2006. Results suggest that after high-, moderate- or low-severity wildfire, rilling was seldom evident more than 4 years after fire. Percentage bare soil generally did not differ significantly between reference plots and wildfire plots greater than 6 years old. Little rilling was evident after treatment with a variety of fuel reduction techniques, including burning of machine- and hand-piled fuel, thinning, mastication, and crushing. Percentage bare soil at the fuel load reduction treatment plots also did not differ significantly from reference conditions. Percentage bare soil at pine plantation plots was noticeably higher than at reference sites.
Additional keywords: cumulative effects, fire recovery, fuel treatments, prescribed burn, surface erosion.
Acknowledgements
Brent Skaggs and Terry Kaplan-Henry provided funding and invaluable advice for this project. US Environmental Protection Agency and the Pacific North-west Research Station, USDA Forest Service, also provided funding. Rob Johnson graciously provided lodging during much of the fieldwork. Discussions with Lee MacDonald, Colorado State University, resulted in major improvements in the methodology and interpretation of the results. The Tule River Tribe provided access to Reservation land. Daniel Neary, Peter Wohlgemuth, John Moody, Lee MacDonald and an anonymous reviewer provided valuable comments on a draft version of this manuscript.
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1 This article was written and prepared by US Government employees on official time and is therefore in the public domain and not subject to copyright in the US.
