Wildfire changes the land and our communities. As rains wash over burned soils, flooding continues to sculpt the land for many years after the flames are extinguished. Fire cleanses the forest of dead material, opens cones, releases seed, removes insects and disease, releases nutrients and through the mosaic effect of most periodic burns, infuses the forest with a wider diversity of wildlife habitat. Dead wood on the forest floor is consumed as flames scorch the ground, preventing fuels from accumulating to produce hotter, more damaging blazes that are slow to regenerate. As fire releases nutrients in the form of ash, soils become more habitable to plants that revegetate the forest floor.
When fire is delayed or suppressed, fuels accumulate, allowing fires to burn too intensely. The canopy burns, trees are killed rather than singed, soils are damaged and destabilized, giving way to erosion which threatens life, safety, and infrastructure downstream and delays regeneration as the foundation of regrowth washes away with each storm.
While the natural process of post-fire change unfolds, communities struggle with the fire’s aftermath. People living in, and downstream, of the burns face risks to their safety, homes, roads and water supplies from post-fire flooding. Hillsides stripped by fire of trees and other vegetation can no longer absorb or catch rainfall. Burned, unstable soils slough easily with even modest amounts of precipitation. Burned trees fall and can be swept downhill with water, soil, ash and other materials in flows that pose a serious threat downstream.
Work is needed to reduce threats to life, structures and water supplies, stabilize soil, reduce erosion and sedimentation, increase vegetation, and protect wildlife habitat. ARWC works with fire-impacted communities within the Arkansas Basin to complete recovery projects as well as Forest Health projects that help make forests, and communities living in and below them, more resilient during and after future wildfires. Learn about our work in areas impacted by the Hayden Pass Fire, Spring Creek Fire, and Decker Fire.
When fire is delayed or suppressed, fuels accumulate, allowing fires to burn too intensely. The canopy burns, trees are killed rather than singed, soils are damaged and destabilized, giving way to erosion which threatens life, safety, and infrastructure downstream and delays regeneration as the foundation of regrowth washes away with each storm.
While the natural process of post-fire change unfolds, communities struggle with the fire’s aftermath. People living in, and downstream, of the burns face risks to their safety, homes, roads and water supplies from post-fire flooding. Hillsides stripped by fire of trees and other vegetation can no longer absorb or catch rainfall. Burned, unstable soils slough easily with even modest amounts of precipitation. Burned trees fall and can be swept downhill with water, soil, ash and other materials in flows that pose a serious threat downstream.
Work is needed to reduce threats to life, structures and water supplies, stabilize soil, reduce erosion and sedimentation, increase vegetation, and protect wildlife habitat. ARWC works with fire-impacted communities within the Arkansas Basin to complete recovery projects as well as Forest Health projects that help make forests, and communities living in and below them, more resilient during and after future wildfires. Learn about our work in areas impacted by the Hayden Pass Fire, Spring Creek Fire, and Decker Fire.
