Oral Presentation Freshwater Sciences 2023

Stream biogeochemical responses to mixed-severity fire and increasing storm magnitudes at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (#520)

Sherri Johnson 1 , Sidney Bush 2 , Kevin Bladon 2 , Pam Sullivan 2 , Steve Wondzell 1 , Adam Ward 2
  1. US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, OR, United States
  2. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

Large, high severity wildfires are occurring more frequently in many regions of the world. After fires, streams draining burned areas can mobilize a variety of nutrients and pollutants, which can pose a risk to water quality vital to downstream communities and aquatic ecosystems. Stream chemistry responses to high severity forest fires have been relatively well-studied, but stream biogeochemical responses to low and mixed-severity wildfires are not well understood. We analyzed chemistry responses to mixed-severity wildfire that occurred during September 2020 in two gaged watersheds at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. To better understand wildfire impacts to stream water quality, we compared chemistry responses post-fire to long-term proportional stream chemistry data for these watersheds. We also analyzed instantaneous grab samples collected during four post-fire storm events from September to December 2020. Post-fire, we observed slight increases in nitrate and ammonium, but minimal responses overall in the 3-week proportional samples. Interestingly, we observed extremely high concentrations of nitrate, phosphorus and sediment in WS 9 between storms, which were likely associated with a small debris flow. High severity fires have been shown to increase stream concentrations of dissolved organic carbon, yet we did not observe this following the mixed severity fires in these small watersheds. We also compared concentration-discharge hysteretic loops for multiple analytes to evaluate the stream biogeochemical responses to increased wetting from rain events of increasing magnitude. Stream temperature in these small streams showed minimal responses during and after fire. Our study is unique in having pre-fire chemistry, temperature, and hydrology data, which allows us to contribute new insights to post-wildfire impacts to stream water quality for watershed managers and decision makers as they plan and respond to the heterogeneity of landscape conditions following wildfires.