The Warrumbungle Post‐Fire Recovery Project—raising the profile of soils

Abstract

The impacts of a wildfire and subsequent rainfall event in 2013 in the Warrumbungle National Park in New South Wales, Australia were examined in a project designed to provide information on post‐fire recovery expectations and options to land managers. A coherent suite of sub‐projects was implemented, including soil mapping, and studies on soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N), erosion rates, groundcover recovery and stream responses. It was found that the loss of SOC and N increased with fire severity, with the greatest losses from severely burnt sandstone ridges. Approximately 2.4 million t of SOC and ~74,000 t of N were lost from soil to a depth of 10 cm across the 56,290 ha affected. Soil loss from slopes during the subsequent rainfall event was modelled up to 25 t ha−1, compared to a long‐term mean annual soil loss of 1.06 t ha−1 year−1. Groundcover averages generally increased after the fire until spring 2015, by which time rates of soil loss returned to near pre‐fire levels. Streams were filled with sand to bank full levels after the fire and rainfall. Rainfall events in 2015–2016 shifted creek systems into a major erosive phase, with incision through the post‐fire sandy bedload deposits, an erosive phase likely related to loss of topsoils over much of the catchment. The effectiveness of the research was secured by a close engagement with park managers in issue identification and a communications programme. Management outcomes flowing from the research included installation of erosion control works, redesign of access and monitoring of key mass movement hazard areas.

Sustainable soil use and management: An interdisciplinary and systematic approach

“…The creation, dissemination and usage of soil sustainability knowledge involves a wide range of stakeholders, such as scientists, farmers, land managers, advisory services, commercial product suppliers, regulators, funding agencies, educators, students, as well as the general public (Knox et al, 2019;Tulau et al, 2019). Different stakeholders will have different concerns.…”

Distribution, nature and threats to soils of the Australian Alps: A review

“…1999; Tulau & McInnes‐Clarke 2015; Tulau et al . 2019, 2020). The magnitude of changes to catchment hydrology depends on a number of factors, including the severity of a fire, soil type, antecedent soil moisture and post‐fire rainfall intensity and erosion (Yang et al .…”

“…The largest areas affected by fire burned in 1939. In Victoria, the combined 2003 fires covered practically all of the Victorian alpine national parks (Esplin et al 2003 Fire typically results in the reduction in the levels of soil organic matter (SOM) and long-term decline in nutrient pools (Kirkpatrick & Dickinson 1984) by oxidation, volatilisation and convection and allows leaching and erosion from a site (Raison 1980;Leitch et al 1983;Thomas et al 1999;Tulau & McInnes-Clarke 2015;Tulau et al 2019Tulau et al , 2020. The magnitude of changes to catchment hydrology depends on a number of factors, including the severity of a fire, soil type, antecedent soil moisture and post-fire rainfall intensity and erosion (Yang et al 2018).…”

Fire and geodiversity

“…Altered aesthetic value. Nutrient volitisation reduces ecosystem service support ( Tulau et al 2019).…”