Prescribed fire, soils, and stream water chemistry in a watershed in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California
Scott L. Stephens A F , Thomas Meixner B , Mark Poth C , Bruce McGurk D and Dale Payne EA Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3110, USA.
B Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
C USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Riverside, CA 92507, USA. Present address: Natural Resources and the Environment, United States Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-2241, USA.
D United States Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany, CA 94701, USA.
E Department of Environmental Studies, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA.
F Corresponding author. Telephone: +1 510 642 7304; email: stephens@nature.berkeley.edu
International Journal of Wildland Fire 13(1) 27-35 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF03002
Submitted: 10 January 2003 Accepted: 14 July 2003 Published: 8 April 2004
Abstract
Before Euro-American settlement fire was a common process in the forests of the Lake Tahoe Basin. The combination of drought, fire suppression, and past harvesting has produced ecosystems that are susceptible to high-severity wildfires. Consequently, a program of prescribed fire has been recommended but there is incomplete understanding of the ecological effects of fuels treatments, especially with regard to how treatments will affect the flow of nutrients to Lake Tahoe. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the most important nutrients affecting algal growth, and thus lake clarity. Existing data demonstrate a long-term shift from a co-limitation by both nitrogen and phosphorus to phosphorus limitation. Two high-consumption, moderate-intensity prescribed fires were conducted to determine their effects on soil and stream water chemistry. Stream water calcium concentrations increased in burned watersheds whereas soluble reactive phosphorus concentrations were not significantly different. Prescribed fires released calcium and raised soil pH and this may have resulted in the incorporation of phosphorus into insoluble forms. Stream monitoring data indicates water quality effects last for ~3 months. Prescribed fires did not significantly increase the amount of soluble reactive phosphorus in stream waters. However, additional research is needed to determine if prescribed fire increases erosion or movement of particulate P, particularly in areas with steep slopes.
Additional keywords: Sierra Nevada; mixed conifer forests; phosphorus; nutrients.
Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank Gary Walter for assisting us on this project. Discussions about this project with Mark Fenn, R.C. Graham, C. Amrhein, and Rowan Rowntree were very helpful.
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