SoCal EcoServe: an online mapping tool to estimate wildfire impacts in southern California

Emma C. Underwood; Charlie C. Schrader-Patton; Allan D. Hollander

doi:10.1071/WF23033

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 33(3)

SoCal EcoServe: an online mapping tool to estimate wildfire impacts in southern California

Emma C. Underwood

^A ^* , Charlie C. Schrader-Patton

^B and Allan D. Hollander

^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Institute of the Environment, University of California Davis 501 Engineering Bikeway, Davis, CA 95616 USA.

^B USDA Forest Service Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment Center, Olympia, WA 98512 USA.

^* Correspondence to: eunderwoodrussell@ucdavis.edu

International Journal of Wildland Fire 33, WF23033 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23033

Submitted: 7 March 2023 Accepted: 28 January 2024 Published: 20 March 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

Wildfires in Mediterranean-type climate regions have numerous impacts on the ecosystem services provided by native shrublands, however, quantifying these impacts is challenging.

Aims

We developed a reproducible method to quantify fire impacts on ecosystem services and created a tool for resource managers in southern California.

Methods

The SoCal EcoServe tool consists of two components: a desktop tool and an online mapping tool. We used the Alisal Fire of 2021 as a case study and quantified: aboveground live carbon storage using pre- and post-fire biomass data; water runoff, groundwater recharge and sediment erosion retention by integrating data on burn severity into hydrological and sediment erosion models; and estimated recreation services and biodiversity using pre-fire data.

Key results

We estimated the Alisal Fire resulted in an immediate post-fire reduction in carbon storage of 25%, of which 20% was estimated to be permanently lost. Water runoff increased by 21%, groundwater recharge 7-fold, and sediment erosion increased 24-fold.

Conclusions

The EcoServe tool provides an initial approximation of wildfire impacts that can support damage assessments post-fire, track carbon storage and help identify priorities for post-fire restoration.

Implications

We intend the tool to be used by USDA Forest Service resource managers of shurblands in southern California. However, it can provide the framework for future work in shrublands throughout the western USA.

Keywords: Biodiversity, carbon storage, groundwater recharge, recreation, resource management, sediment erosion, shrublands, water runoff.

References

Allen EB, Williams K, Beyers JL, Phillips M, Ma S, D’Antonio CM (2018) Chaparral restoration. In ‘Valuing chaparral: ecological, socio-economic, and management perspectives’. (Eds EC Underwood, HD Safford, NA Molinari, JE Keeley) pp. 347–384. (Springer: Cham, Switzerland)

Bailey RG (2016) ‘Bailey’s ecoregions and subregions of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.’ (US Forest Service Research Data Archive: Fort Collins, CO, USA) doi:10.2737/RDS-2016-0003

Ball IR, Possingham HP, Watts M (2009) Marxan and relatives: software for spatial conservation prioritisation. In ‘Spatial conservation prioritisation: quantitative methods and computational tools’. (Eds A Moilanen, KA Wilson, HP Possingham) pp. 185–195 (Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK)

Black CH (1987) Biomass, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation over a southern California fire cycle chronosequence. In ‘Plant response to stress’. Chp. 4. (Eds JD Tenhunen, FM Catarino, OL Lange, WC Oechel) pp. 445–459. (Springer: Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany)

Bohlman GN, Underwood EC, Safford HD (2018) Estimating biomass in California’s chaparral and coastal sage scrub shrublands. Madroño 65, 28-46.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

CalWater (1999) California interagency watershed map of 1999 (CalWater version 2.2.1) (Prepared by the Natural Resources Conservation Service California Interagency Watershed Mapping Committee: Sacramento, CA, USA)

Chan KMA, Shaw MR, Cameron DR, Underwood EC, Daily GC (2006) Conservation planning for ecosystem services. PLoS Biology 4(11), e379.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Chang H, Bonnette MR (2016) Climate change and water-related ecosystem services: impacts of drought in California, USA. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 2(12), e01254.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

DeBano LF (1981) ‘Water repellent soils: a state-of-the-art’. General Technical Report PSW-GTR-46. (USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station: Berkeley, CA)

DeBano LF, Neary DG, Ffolliott PF (1998) ‘Fire’s effects on ecosystems.’ (John Wiley & Sons: New York, NY, USA)

Diffenbaugh NS, Swain DL, Touma D (2015) Anthropogenic warming has increased drought risk in California. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112(13), 3931-3936.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

English D, Kocis S, Zarnoch S, Arnold J (2002) ‘USDA Forest Service national visitor use monitoring process: research method documentation’. General Technical Report SRS-GTR-57. (USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station: Asheville, NC)

Flint LE, Flint AL, Thorne JH, Boynton R (2013) Fine-scale hydrologic modeling for regional landscape applications: the California Basin Characterization Model development and performance. Ecological Processes 2, 25.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Flint LE, Underwood EC, Flint AL, Hollander AD (2019) Characterizing the influence of fire on hydrology in southern California. Natural Areas Journal 39(1), 108-121.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

FRAP (Fire and Resource Assessment Program) (2015) California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s CALFIRE Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP). Fveg15_1 vegetation data. Available at http://frap.fire.ca.gov/data/frapgisdata-sw-fveg_download

Garnache C, Lupi F (2018) The Thomas Fire and the effect of wildfires on the value of recreation services in Southern California. In ‘Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting’, 5–7 August 2018. (Washington, DC, USA). https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea18/274028.html

Gashaw T, Bantider A, Zeleke G, Alamirew T, Jemberu W, Worqlul AW, et al. (2021) Evaluating InVEST model for estimating soil loss and sediment export in data scarce regions of the Abbay (Upper Blue Nile) Basin: implications for land managers. Environmental Challenges 5, 100381.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Hamel P, Chaplin-Kramer R, Sim S, Mueller C (2015) A new approach to modeling the sediment retention service (InVEST 3.0): case study of the Cape Fear catchment, North Carolina, USA. Science of the Total Environment 524–525, 166-177.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Keeley JE, Safford HD (2016) Fire as an ecosystem process. In ‘Ecosystems of California’. (Eds HA Mooney, E Zavaleta) Ch. 3, pp. 27–46. (University of California Press: Berkeley, CA, USA)

Kinoshita AM, Hogue TS (2011) Spatial and temporal controls on post-fire hydrologic recovery in southern California watersheds. Catena 87(2), 240-252.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

McGroddy ME, Daufresne T, Hedin LO (2004) Scaling of C:N:P stoichiometry in forests worldwide: implications of terrestrial Redfield‐type ratios. Ecology 85, 2390-2401.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Moody JA, Martin DA (2009) Synthesis of sediment yields after wildland fire in different rainfall regimes in the western United States. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18, 96-115.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Neary DG, Ryan KC, DeBano LF (2005) ‘Fire effects on soil and water. Vol. 4’. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-42. (USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: Fort Collins, CO)

Neary DG, Koestner KA, Youberg A (2011) Hydrologic impacts of high severity wildfire: learning from the past and preparing for the future. In ‘24th Annual Symposium of the Arizona Hydrological Society; Watersheds near and far: Response to changes in climate and landscape’, 18–20 September 2010. (Flagstaff, AZ, USA) https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/40608#:~:text=Basins%20with%20high%2Dburn%20severity,greater%20than%20pre%2Dfire%20conditions

Parks SA, Holsinger LM, Voss MA, Loehman RA, Robinson NP (2018) Mean composite fire severity metrics computed with Google Earth Engine offer improved accuracy and expanded mapping potential. Remote Sensing 10, 879.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Pausas JG, Keeley JE (2019) Wildfires as an ecosystem service. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 17, 289-295.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Pratt RB (2022) Vegetation‐type conversion of evergreen chaparral shrublands to savannahs dominated by exotic annual herbs: causes and consequences for ecosystem function. American Journal of Botany 109, 9-28.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Ramirez AR, Helms AM, Traugh CA, Tobin MF, Heffner MS, Davis SD (2014) Mortality of resprouting chaparral shrubs after a fire and during a record drought: physiological mechanisms and demographic consequences. Global Change Biology 20, 893-907.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Roces-Díaz JV, Santín C, Martínez‐Vilalta J, Doerr SH (2022) A global synthesis of fire effects on ecosystem services of forests and woodlands. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 20(3), 170-178.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Safford HD, Underwood EC, Molinari NA (2018) Managing chaparral resources on public lands. In ‘Valuing chaparral: ecological, socio-economic, and management perspectives’. (Eds EC Underwood, HD Safford, NA Molinari, JE Keeley) pp. 411–448. (Springer: Cham, Switzerland)

Safford HD, Butz RJ, Bohlman GN, Coppoletta M, Estes BL, Gross SE, Merriam KE, Wuenschel A (2021) Fire ecology of the North American Mediterranean-climate zone. chapter 7. In ‘Fire ecology and management: past, present, and future of US forested ecosystems’. (Eds B Collins, CH Greenberg) pp. 337–392. (Springer: Cham, Switzerland).

Safford HD, Paulson AK, Steel ZL, Young DJN, Wayman RB (2022) The 2020 California fire season: a year like no other, a return to the past, or a harbinger of the future? Global Ecology and Biogeography 31, 2005-25.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Sankey JB, McVay J, Kreitler J, Hawbaker T, Vaillant N, Lowe S (2015) Predicting watershed post-fire sediment yield with the InVEST sediment retention model: accuracy and uncertainties. In ‘Conference paper: 5th Federal Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conference and the 10th Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference’, Reno, NV, USA. (Published by the Joint Federal Interagency Conference, Reno, NV, USA) acwi.gov/sos/pubs/3rdJFIC/Proceedings.pdf

Schrader-Patton CC, Underwood EC (2021) New biomass estimates for chaparral-dominated southern California landscapes. Remote Sensing 13, 1581.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Schrader-Patton CC, Underwood EC, Sorenson QM (2022) Annual biomass data (2001-2021) for southern California: above- and below-ground, standing dead, and litter. Dryad Dataset. 10.5061/dryad.qz612jmjt

Schrader-Patton CC, Underwood EC, Sorenson QM (2023) Annual biomass spatial data for southern California (2001-2021): above- and belowground, standing dead, and litter. Ecology 104, e4031.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Syphard AD, Brennan TJ, Keeley JE (2019) Drivers of chaparral type conversion to herbaceous vegetation in coastal southern California. Diversity and Distributions 25, 90-101.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Underwood EC, Hollander AD (2023) Areas of low natural regeneration potential post-fire in shrublands of southern California (selected years between 2008 and 2020). [Dataset]. Dryad. https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.25338/B8CH2T

Underwood EC, Hollander AD, Huber PR, Schrader-Patton C (2018) Mapping the value of national forest landscapes for ecosystem service provision. In ‘Valuing chaparral: ecological, socio-economic, and management perspectives’. (Eds EC Underwood, HD Safford, NA Molinari, JE Keeley) pp. 245–270. (Springer: Cham, Switzerland)

USDA Forest Service (2015) National visitor use monitoring: visitor use report. Database queried for: Angeles National Forest (2006, 2011), Cleveland National Forest (2009, 2014), Los Padres National Forest (2009, 2014), and San Bernardino National Forest (2009, 2014). Available at https://apps.fs.usda.gov/nfs/nrm/nvum/results

Wischmeier WH, Smith DD (1978) ‘Predicting rainfall erosion losses – a guide to conservation planning’. Agriculture Handbook No. 537. (US Department of Agriculture: Washington, DC)

Wohlgemuth PM, Lilley KA (2018) Sediment delivery, flood control, and physical ecosystem services in southern California chaparral landscapes. In ‘Valuing chaparral: ecological, socio-economic, and management perspectives’. (Eds EC Underwood, HD Safford, NA Molinari, JE Keeley) pp. 181–205. (Springer: Cham, Switzerland)

Zedler PH, Gautier CR, McMaster GS (1983) Vegetation change in response to extreme events – the effect of a short interval between fires in California chaparral and coastal scrub. Ecology 64(4), 809-818.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Zhou M, Deng J, Lin Y, Belete M, Wang K, et al. (2019) Identifying the effects of land use change on sediment export: integrating sediment source and sediment delivery in the Qiantang River Basin, China. Science of the Total Environment 686, 38-49.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |