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A risk-benefit context for assessing wildfire effects on water quality and biotic integrity
Citation:
Ebersole, J., V. Almquist, M. Papenfus, R. Hill, M. Beyene, P. Ringold, S. Leibowitz, AND S. Leduc. A risk-benefit context for assessing wildfire effects on water quality and biotic integrity. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Reno, NV, September 29 - October 03, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Wildfires, and their effects on human property, watersheds, and ecosystem values are a growing concern in the Western US. Wildfires and associated responses can negatively affect water quality through increased loadings of sediment, introduction of toxic chemicals, and changes to how water is stored and routed through watersheds. But wildfires can also help create conditions that provide long-term benefits to aquatic ecosystem condition, by creating stream habitats that support desired functions for fish, wildlife, and water quality. In this presentation we will discuss the differing ways in which wildfires can influence water quality and aquatic habitat. We will provide examples of tools currently available, and being developed by EPA research, that can help identify how different watersheds may respond differently to wildfire. This research is part of a larger effort intended to help managers identify best practices for protecting and restoring aquatic habitats and water quality.
Description:
Wildfires can have devasting impacts on human infrastructure, watersheds, and water quality, impacting aquatic ecosystem endpoints valued by humans and regulated by federal agencies such as the USEPA. But wildfires can also have beneficial effects on aquatic ecosystems. Assessing the net risk of wildfire to aquatic ecosystem endpoints will therefore require consideration of both adverse and positive effects. Doing so requires a holistic perspective that considers the multiple pathways through which wildfire modifies watershed processes regulating the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of receiving waters. Additionally, this requires the explicit consideration of spatial and temporal variability in these processes and their companion responses. Furthermore, distinguishing between beneficial and detrimental effects of wildfire will require methods to assess both risks and benefits in a way useful to stakeholders and managers charged with making decisions about pre- and post-fire response to wildfire risks. Here, we present a research framework for assessing spatial variability in relative risk. Examples illustrate how the relative risks/benefits of wildfire to aquatic ecosystem endpoints will vary in response to watershed and catchment attributes that modify, enhance, or ameliorate wildfire effects. This approach will help identify areas likely to require differing levels and types of pre- and post-fire intervention.