Finding balance between fire hazard reduction and erosion control in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada

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dc.contributor.authorHarrison, Nicolas M.en
dc.contributor.authorStubblefield, Andrew P.en
dc.contributor.authorVarner, J. Morganen
dc.contributor.authorKnapp, Eric E.en
dc.contributor.departmentForest Resources and Environmental Conservationen
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-27T14:29:08Zen
dc.date.available2020-04-27T14:29:08Zen
dc.date.issued2016-01-15en
dc.description.abstractThe 2007 Angora Fire served as a stark reminder of the need for fuel reduction treatments in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada, USA. Concerns exist, however, that the corresponding removal of forest floor fuels could increase erosion rates, negatively affecting the clarity of Lake Tahoe. To quantify trade-offs between fuel reduction and erosion, we conducted field-based snowmelt runoff simulation experiments at 16 sites within the Lake Tahoe Basin that had received mechanical mastication or prescribed fire treatments. Erodibility was measured to determine if thresholds of litter, duff, and woody fuel cover could be established that are sufficient for trapping sediment and increasing infiltration, without contributing to fire hazard. Field snow-melt simulations revealed that as little as 25% of the ground surface covered with masticated fuels over duff was sufficient to mitigate erosion. The post-prescribed fire environment characterized by heterogeneous patches of exposed bare mineral soil interspersed with unburned patches mitigated erosion by increasing infiltration. Considerable increases in sediment yield were observed in plots with >35% of ground area burned; the highest total sediment yields (values) occurred in plots where between 66% and 100% of the soil surface burned. Our field results suggest that erosion and wildfire severity can be simultaneously mitigated through the use of masticated fuel reduction treatments or prescribed fire treatments that leave sufficient organic matter to trap sediment but have sufficiently low fuel loading and/or enough fuel discontinuity or patchiness to limit fire spread. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.en
dc.description.adminPublic domain – authored by a U.S. government employeeen
dc.description.notesFunding for this research was provided by the Bureau of Land Management through the sale of public lands as authorized by the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNLPMA). This Round 8 SNLPMA research grant was supported by an agreement with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station. We appreciate the help of A. Geritz, N. Schroeter, E. Banwell, A. Heck, R. Arst-McCullough, M.E. Grismer and M. Hogan. We thank J. Baldwin for statistical assistance and J.L. Beyers for her review of the manuscript.en
dc.description.sponsorshipBureau of Land Management; USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research StationUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA)United States Forest Serviceen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.10.030en
dc.identifier.eissn1872-7042en
dc.identifier.issn0378-1127en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/97913en
dc.identifier.volume360en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedicationen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/en
dc.subjectFuels managementen
dc.subjectMasticationen
dc.subjectPrescribed fireen
dc.subjectRunoff simulationen
dc.subjectSnowmelten
dc.titleFinding balance between fire hazard reduction and erosion control in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevadaen
dc.title.serialForest Ecology and Managementen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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