Initial hydrologic and geomorphic response following a wildfire in the Colorado Front Range

Moody, John A.; Martin, Deborah A.

doi:10.1002/esp.253

Cited by 392 publications

(420 citation statements)

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“…At larger scales, such as entire watersheds or multiple watershed systems, studies of post-fire erosion rates have shown incompatible conclusions (Moody and Martin, 2001;Owens et al, 2013;Smith et al, 2011), though this is most likely due to the variability of precipitation events and general climate patterns (Moody et al, 2013). In terms of water quality, contaminant levels can be dramatically increased for many years after a wildfire in both soil (Burke et al, 2010) and stream systems (Emelko et al, 2011;Stein et al, 2012;Burke et al, 2013), increasing the workload on source water protection organizations in communities reliant upon burned watersheds for drinking and agricultural water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and evaluation of controls on post-fire streamflow response across western US watersheds

Saxe

Hogue

Hay

2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This research investigates the impact of wildfires on watershed flow regimes, specifically focusing on evaluation of fire events within specified hydroclimatic regions in the western United States, and evaluating the impact of climate and geophysical variables on response. Eighty-two watersheds were identified with at least 10 years of continuous pre-fire daily streamflow records and 5 years of continuous post-fire daily flow records. Percent change in annual runoff ratio, low flows, high flows, peak flows, number of zero flow days, baseflow index, and Richards-Baker flashiness index were calculated for each watershed using pre-and post-fire periods. Independent variables were identified for each watershed and fire event, including topographic, vegetation, climate, burn severity, percent area burned, and soils data.Results show that low flows, high flows, and peak flows increase in the first 2 years following a wildfire and decrease over time. Relative response was used to scale response variables with the respective percent area of watershed burned in order to compare regional differences in watershed response. To account for variability in precipitation events, runoff ratio was used to compare runoff directly to PRISM precipitation estimates. To account for regional differences in climate patterns, watersheds were divided into nine regions, or clusters, through k-means clustering using climate data, and regression models were produced for watersheds grouped by total area burned. Watersheds in Cluster 9 (eastern California, western Nevada, Oregon) demonstrate a small negative response to observed flow regimes after fire. Cluster 8 watersheds (coastal California) display the greatest flow responses, typically within the first year following wildfire. Most other watersheds show a positive mean relative response. In addition, simple regression models show low correlation between percent watershed burned and streamflow response, implying that other watershed factors strongly influence response.Spearman correlation identified NDVI, aridity index, percent of a watershed's precipitation that falls as rain, and slope as being positively correlated with post-fire streamflow response. This metric also suggested a negative correlation between response and the soil erodibility factor, watershed area, and percent low burn severity. Regression models identified only moderate burn severity and watershed area as being consistently positively/negatively correlated, respectively, with response. The random forest model identified only slope and percent area burned as significant watershed parameters controlling response.Results will help inform post-fire runoff management decisions by helping to identify expected changes to flow regimes, as well as facilitate parameterization for model application in burned watersheds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and evaluation of controls on post-fire streamflow response across western US watersheds

Saxe

Hogue

Hay

2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…There is a shortage of quantitative measurements of the downstream extent and persistence of effects of water and sediment conveyed from burned catchments. In Colorado, detailed measurements of the post-fire bathymetry of a water supply reservoir allowed the calculation of the volume of sediment transported from two burned catchments (one 18 km upstream, the other 5 km upstream) [55]. Measurements after a fire in California, USA detected changes in suspended sediment in a reservoir 160 km downstream of the burned area [65] and a recent study in New Mexico [49] detected elevated values of specific conductance and small changes in turbidity at a site approximately 120 km downstream of a burned area during and four months after the largest fire recorded in the state (approx.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the nexus of fire, water and society

Martin¹

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The societal risks of water scarcity and water-quality impairment have received considerable attention, evidenced by recent analyses of these topics by the 2030 Water Resources Group, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. What are the effects of fire on the predicted water scarcity and declines in water quality? Drinking water supplies for humans, the emphasis of this exploration, are derived from several land cover types, including forests, grasslands and peatlands, which are vulnerable to fire. In the last two decades, fires have affected the water supply catchments of Denver (CO) and other southwestern US cities, and four major Australian cities including Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. In the same time period, several, though not all, national, regional and global water assessments have included fire in evaluations of the risks that affect water supplies. The objective of this discussion is to explore the nexus of fire, water and society with the hope that a more explicit understanding of fire effects on water supplies will encourage the incorporation of fire into future assessments of water supplies, into the pyrogeography conceptual framework and into planning efforts directed at water resiliency. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.

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“…In the Colorado Front Range the mean sediment yield from four 1 m Gerlach traps on unburned hillslopes was only 0Ð3 Mg ha 1 year 1 (Moody and Martin, 2001). On unburned 1 m 2 plots a simulated rainfall of 76 mm h 1 generated a mean sediment yield of only 0Ð7 Mg ha 1 (Benavides-Solorio andMacDonald, 2001, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of three post‐fire rehabilitation treatments in the Colorado Front Range

Wagenbrenner

MacDonald

Rough

2006

Hydrological Processes

199

160

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Abstract:Post-fire rehabilitation treatments are commonly implemented after high-severity wildfires, but few data are available about the efficacy of these treatments. This study assessed post-fire erosion rates and the effectiveness of seeding, straw mulching, and contour felling in reducing erosion after a June 2000 wildfire northwest of Loveland, Colorado. Site characteristics and sediment yields were measured on 12 burned and untreated control plots and 22 burned and treated plots from 2000 to 2003. The size of the hillslope plots ranged from 0Ð015 to 0Ð86 ha.Sediment yields varied significantly by treatment and were most closely correlated with the amount of ground cover. On the control plots the mean sediment yield declined from 6-10 Mg ha 1 in the first two years after burning to 1Ð2 Mg ha 1 in 2002 and 0Ð7 Mg ha 1 in 2003. Natural regrowth caused the amount of ground cover on the control plots to increase progressively from 33% in fall 2000 to 88% in fall 2003. Seeding had no effect on either the amount of ground cover or sediment yields. Mulching reduced sediment yields by at least 95% relative to the control plots in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and the lower sediment yields are attributed to an immediate increase in the amount of ground cover in the mulched plots. The contour-felling treatments varied considerably in the quality of installation, and sediment storage capacities ranged from 7 to 32 m 3 ha 1 . The initial contour-felling treatment did not reduce sediment yields when subjected to a very large storm event, but sediment yields were significantly reduced by a contour-felling treatment installed after this large storm. The results indicate that contour felling may be able to store much of the sediment generated in an average year, but will not reduce sediment yields from larger storms.

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Initial hydrologic and geomorphic response following a wildfire in the Colorado Front Range

Cited by 392 publications

References 40 publications

Characterization and evaluation of controls on post-fire streamflow response across western US watersheds

Characterization and evaluation of controls on post-fire streamflow response across western US watersheds

At the nexus of fire, water and society

Effectiveness of three post‐fire rehabilitation treatments in the Colorado Front Range

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