Bagley Fire BAER Team Soil Burn Severity
Incident: Bagley Wildfire
Released: 9/18/2012
Bagley Fire BAER Team Soil Burn Severity
Specialists on the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Team used satellite imagery and on-the-ground assessments to determine the level of severity the Bagley Fire had on the soil and watersheds. Using this information, the BAER Team produces a Soil Burn Severity Map. The map has 4 levels of burn severity: unburned/very low; low; moderate; and high.
The Bagley Fire Soil Burn Severity breakdown is a follows:
Forest Service Lands: 18% (8,094 acres) Unburned/Low; 34% (15,546 acres) Low; 12% (5,547 acres) Moderate; 6% (3,173 acres) High.
Private Lands: 4% (2,016 acres) Unburned/Low; 14% (6,345 acres) Low; 7% (3,148 acres) Moderate; 5% (2,141 acres) High.
Unburned/ Very Low Severity: Fire has not entered the area, or has very lightly charred only the litter and fine fuels on the ground. Soil organic matter, structure, and infiltration unchanged.- Low Burn Severity: Low soil heating or light ground char occur and mineral soil is not changed. Leaf litter may be charred or partially consumed and the surface of the duff may be lightly charred.
- Moderate Burn Severity: Moderate soil heating with moderate ground char and soil structure is usually not altered. Litter and duff are deeply charred or consumed
- High Burn Severity: High soil heating, or deep ground char occurs and duff is completely consumed. Soil structure is often destroyed due to consumption of organic matter.
The Soil Burn Severity report is one of the tools the BAER Team uses to perform an assessment of the watersheds within the Bagley burn area to determine the post-fire water flow response for areas downstream and adjacent to the wildfire. The team's priority is to identify emergency threats to values-at-risk and to recommend effective treatments on National Forest Systems lands to mitigate the emergency conditions. Risk concerns usually include flash flooding, debris flows, mudflows, soil movement, erosion, and rock fall. Values-at-risk address life, property, cultural resources, natural resources such as cabins, campgrounds, homes and road and trails to name a few.
The next step for the BAER Team is to develop a report and make recommendations for treatments to address some the risk and values-at-risk identified due to the Bagley Fire. Some examples of treatments could include
Hill slope treatments: straw mulching, slope contour barriers.
Channel treatments: clearing of debris in stream and creeks.
Road and trail treatments: culvert cleaning, culvert upsizing, culvert removing, rolling dips, road and trail drainage improvements, and closures.
Noxious weed detection surveys
As soon as the Regional Forester, or the Washington Office Chief approves the funding for the recommended treatments from the BAER report, the BAER treatment implementation phase will begin. BAER treatments need to be completed within one year. In some instances, treatments can be strengthened or re-installed for up to three years.
###
