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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Boise, Idaho » Northwest Watershed Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #190348

Title: Effectiveness of postfire erosion control treatments

Author
item ROBICHAUD, P - US FOREST SERVICE
item Pierson Jr, Frederick
item WAGENBRENNER, J - USDA-USFS

Submitted to: International Soil Conservation Organization (ISCO)
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/14/2006
Publication Date: 5/14/2006
Citation: Robichaud, P.R., Pierson, F.B., and Wagenbrenner, J.W. 2006. Effectiveness of postfire erosion control treatments. 14th Conference of International Soil Conservation, May 14-19, 2006, Marrakech, Morocco. (CD-ROM)

Interpretive Summary: Various erosion control treatments are used to mitigate the impacts of wildfire on hillslope erosion and downstream flooding. Recent efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of postfire erosion mitigation treatments have used natural rainfall experiments at the hillslope and small watershed-scale. Preliminary results suggest that some mitigation treatments may help reduce erosion for some, but not all, rainfall events. For small rainfall events, reduction in first year erosion rates have been measured for contour-felled logs erosion barriers (50 to 70%), engineered wood straw (78%), straw mulch (60 to 80%), and hydromulch (19%). Grass seeding treatments have little effect on first year erosion reduction. For intense rain events there was little difference between treated and non-treated areas.

Technical Abstract: To mitigate potential postfire erosion and flooding, various erosion control treatments are applied on highly erodible areas with downstream resources in need of protection. Recent efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of postfire erosion mitigation treatments have used natural rainfall experiments at the hillslope and small watershed-scale. Preliminary results suggest that some mitigation treatments may help reduce erosion for some, but not all, rainfall events. For small rainfall events, reduction in first year erosion rates have been measured for contour-felled logs erosion barriers (50 to 70%), engineered wood straw (78%), straw mulch (60 to 80%), and hydromulch (19%). Grass seeding treatments have little effect on first year erosion reduction. For intense rain events (I10 greater than 40 mm h-1) there was little difference between treated and non-treated areas.