wildfire and water

Wildfires can impact streamflow by modifying net precipitation, infiltration, evapotranspiration, snowmelt, and hillslope run-off pathways. Regional differences in fire trends and postwildfire streamflow responses across the conterminous United States have spurred concerns about the impact on streamflow in forests that serve as water resource areas.

In 2003, the Lost Creek wildfire severely burned 21,000 hectares of forest on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Seven headwater catchments with varying levels of disturbance (burned, post-fire salvage logged, and unburned) were instrumented as part of the Southern Rockies Watershed Project to measure streamflow, stream temperature, and meteorological conditions.

In many parts of the world, forests provide high quality water for domestic, agricultural, industrial, and ecological needs, with water supplies in those regions inextricably linked to forest health. Wildfires have the potential to have devastating effects on aquatic ecosystems and community drinking water supply through impacts on water quantity and quality.

Ecohydrological linkages between phosphorus (P) production, stream algae, benthic invertebrate, and fish communities were studied for 4 years after severe wildfire in the Rocky Mountains (Alberta, Canada).