Prescribed Burning and Erosion Potential in Mixed Hardwood Forests of Southern Illinois

Abstract

Prescribed fire has several benefits for managing forest ecosystems including reduction of fuel loading and invasive species and enhanced regeneration of desirable tree species. Along with these benefits there are some limitations like nutrient and sediment loss which have not been studied extensively in mixed hardwood forests. The objective of our research was to quantify the amount of sediment movement occurring on a watershed scale due to prescribed fire in a southern Illinois mixed hardwood ecosystem. The research site was located at Trail of Tears State Forest in western Union county, IL, USA and included five watershed pairs. One watershed in each pair was randomly assigned the prescribed burn treatment and the other remained as control (i.e., unburned). The prescribed burn treatment significantly reduced the litter depth with 12.6%-31.5% litter remaining in the prescribed burn treatment watersheds. When data were combined across all watersheds, no significant differences were obtained between burn treatment and control watershed for total suspended solids and sediment concentrations or loads. The annual sediment losses varied from 1.41 to 90.54 kg·ha −1 ·year −1 in the four prescribed burn watersheds and 0.81 to 2.54 kg·ha −1 ·year −1 in the four control watersheds. Prescribed burn watershed 7 showed an average soil sediment loss of 4.2 mm, whereas control watershed 8 showed an average accumulation of sediments (9.9 mm), possibly due to steeper slopes. Prescribed burning did not cause a significant increase in soil erosion and sediment loss and can be considered acceptable in managing mixed hardwood forests of Ozark uplands and the Shawnee Hills physiographic regions of southern Illinois.

Forest fire effects on groundwater in a coastal aquifer (Ravenna, Italy)

“…The hydrological effects of forest fire for water catchment management purposes have been studied for several reasons. Some important reasons include the definition of fire impacts on soil properties (Shakesby & Doerr, ; Stoof et al, ), changes in erosion hazard and run‐off generation due to decreased canopy interception and vegetation removal (Cawson, Nyman, Smith, Lane, & Sheridan, ; Fernandez, Vega, Fonturbel, Jimenez, & Perez, ; Singh, Schoonover, Monroe, Williard, & Ruffner, ), and influence on streamflow regime (Bart, ; Feikema, Sherwin, & Lane, P.N:J., ; Stoof et al, ; Zhou, Zhang, Vaze, Lane, & Xu, ). As a consequence, groundwater recharge rates, net infiltration, and water balance can change after a forest fire (Eben & Moody, ; Lane, Croke, & Dignan, ; Silberstein, Dawes, Bastow, Byrne, & Smart, ; Yesertener, ).…”

Influence of Prescribed Burning on Upland Soil Properties in Mark Twain National Forest, Southeast Missouri Ozarks

“…Retardation increases surface roughness through plant residues, which slows the rate of runoff. Transpiration prevents the soil from being oversaturated and helps to slow soil runoff (Gray and Leiser 1982;Gurbir et al, 2017). Loch (2000) found that erosion was greatly reduced with variable vegetation cover while simulating a 100 year flood over uniform slopes.…”

“…Fire severity is influenced by the amount of fuel available (Graham et al, 2004). Understanding fire severity can help scientists determine how fires affect soil characteristics and can aid in implementing appropriate management practices that aim to promote or maintain forest and soil health (Gurbir et al, 2017).…”

“…Prescribed fires are controlled burns which tend to be low to moderate in burn severity (Gurbir et al, 2017). Low severity burns tend to only consume surface fuels such as leaf litter, leaving the duff and underlying soil horizons protected with partially charred organic material (Elliot and Vose, 2006;Gurbir et al, 2017).…”

“…Prescribed burning effects forests at the vegetation and soil interface, which can have a direct effect on the hydrologic processes effecting local streams and rivers (Elliot and Vose, 2006). Prescribed fires can reduce understory vegetation and ground cover such as the litter and duff layers (Elliot and Vose, 2006;Gurbir et al, 2017;Zabowski et al, 2007). Forest characteristics that control hydrologic processes include vegetation cover, leaf litter, organic matter (OM), and bulk density (BD).…”