Watershed response and recovery from the Will Fire: ten years of observations

Abstract

Watershed response and recovery from a wildfire which burned 95 percent of the Williams Creek watershed in 1979 were monitored. Ground cover reduced to 11 percent by the fire increased to 80 percent by 1983. Grasses seeded for erosion control provided less than 10 percent cover until 3 years following the fire, and no significant difference in ground cover was found between seeded and unseeded transects. The average area of three channel cross sections on Williams Creek increased by 20 percent 4 years after the fire, but had returned to immediate postfire conditions by 1985. Benthic invertebrate sampling indicated the fire had a substantial impact on water quality for several years after the fire, and that recovery was incomplete through 1987. Comparable findings of incomplete recovery are presented for four additional California watersheds burned up to 23 years ago.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the symposium on fire and watershed management

Citation

Roby, Kenneth B. 1989. Watershed response and recovery from the Will Fire: ten years of observations. In: Berg, Neil H. tech. coord. Proceedings of the Symposium on Fire and Watershed Management: October 26-28, 1988, Sacramento, California. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-109. Berkeley, Calif.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station: 131-136