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POST-FIRE STREAM RECOVERY ON NEVADA'S RANGELAND
Author
Dencker, Camie M.
Swanson, Sherman R.
McAdoo, Kent
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

After wildfire, land managers have difficulty balancing the needs of ranchers with needs for recovery of riparian zones, as well as upland areas. The Emergency Stability and Rehabilitation Handbook suggest a two year rest from grazing following wildfire for the recovery of vegetation and key processes. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) policy says the length of this hiatus should be until objectives are met, as longer closures can detrimentally impact local economies. Burned areas vary in recovery time depending on their prior condition, their potential, and resource objectives. However, little research identifies the time required for recovery of riparian attributes or the drivers that influence that period. This is important, since wildlife, humans, and livestock production all depend on these areas for food, habitat, recreation, and water. This study uses the protocol Multiple Indicator Monitoring (MIM) of Stream Channels and Streamside Vegetation (Burton et al. 2011) to determine rate of riparian recovery of 40 streams burned in 2012 wildfires. We focus on reaches of management concern (e.g. functional at-risk reaches, threatened species habitat, or aspen stands). Long term MIM indicators include greenline plant composition, woody species height class, streambank stability and cover, woody species age class, and greenline-to-greenline width.  Once grazing returns, short term indicators, stubble height (height of key graminoid species), woody species use, and streambank alteration (e.g. hoof prints) are measured to determine the impact of livestock. Other measures, such as bank incisement ratio, will help us determine the importance of certain stream characteristics in stream recovery. We hypothesize that riparian areas in better condition at the time of fire will recover faster and meet riparian objectives and allow post-fire grazing sooner.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts