BAER - Burned Area Emergency Response
Incident: Gap Wildland Fire
Released: 7/20/2008
Gap Fire
BAER - Burned Area Emergency Response
- BAER is a Forest Service program with the goal of protecting life, property, water quality and deteriorated ecosystems from further damage from flooding and other natural events after a fire.
- BAER is done to reduce further watershed damage from flooding or landslides due to the burned land being temporarily exposed in a fragile condition from loss of vegetation. BAER does not repair areas that were damaged by fire suppression activities.
- The Gap BAER Team includes specialists in hydrology, soil science, geology, biology, botany, archaeology and engineering from the Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
- The Gap BAER Team will look for opportunities within the fire to minimize potential adverse impacts to downstream values such as reservoirs, homes, bridges, culverts, roads, and fish and wildlife habitat.
- The BAER Team for the Gap Fire is now assembled and is doing their assessment in collaboration with Santa Barbara County, the City of Goleta, Santa Barbara Airport, CalTrans and other local agencies. The team has exchanged information with these and other local agencies. Local agencies may conduct separate assessments for private and non-federal public lands affected by the fire.
- The BAER Report will include an assessment of the entire fire area and recommend treatment on National Forest system lands to help protect downstream values.
- The Natural Resources Conservation Service will use the BAER Report findings as a basis for conducting an Emergency Watershed Protection Report which will enable agencies to apply for funds to protect values on private lands. Individual private landowners may also be eligible for NRCS program funds to mitigate damages to their private agricultural lands.
- After the BAER Team finishes its report, which is expected before August 1, 2008, recommendations for treatments are reviewed and approved at Forest Service Regional and Washington Office levels before funds are released for treatments. Since these are emergency treatments, this is done within 10 days.
- Once treatments are approved and funded, an implementation team will be assigned to do the on-the-ground work with the goal of completion before the first damaging storm, which is generally in December or January.
- Emergency BAER treatments are monitored for their effectiveness over time and there may be further rehabilitation work done, as needed, over several years through normal annual funding.
