Single Publication

LAKE SOIL BURN SEVERITY MAP RELEASED

Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) specialists recently completed their data gathering and verification field work of the Lake Fire burn area.  The Soil Burn Severity map has been finalized.  Soil Burn Severity levels are Unburned/Very Low, Low, Moderate, and High.

The map shows that in the Lake Fire area, approximately 26% of the 30,990 acres analyzed by the BAER team is either unburned/very low (5%) or low (21%) soil burn severity, while 54% sustained a moderate soil burn severity, and 18% burned at high soil burn severity.

The BAER post-fire assessment team uses soil burn severity data to identify if there are areas of concern where increased soil erosion, accelerated surface water run-off, and debris flows have the potential to impact human life/safety, property, and critical natural and cultural resources from storm events. The BAER team consists of Forest Service scientists and specialists that are considering emergency stabilization options for those critical resources.

BAER Team Leader Todd Ellsworth said, “The BAER team expects erosion and run-off within the Lake Fire area to increase as a result of the fire because 72% of the burned area experienced moderate or high soil burn severity.”  In specific areas that experienced moderate to high soil burn severity, there is concern for increased post-fire run-off from steep hillslopes and resultant increases in post-fire soil erosion and debris flows.

The Lake Fire soil burn severity BAER map can be downloaded at the interagency “Lake Post-Fire BAER” InciWeb site (https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7115) as a JPEG or PDF version under the “maps” tab.

A "Field Guide for Mapping Post-Fire Soil Burn Severity" can help with interpreting the map and can be found online at http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr243.pdf.