Fire effects on physical and chemical water quality in the southeast
Table 1. Fire effects on physical and chemical water quality in the southeast.
| Location | Prescription | Stream Chemistry | Sediment | Reference |
| Spring and summer prescribed burns.Flame lengths ranged from 0.5-1.0 m. | NA | No significant amounts of soil movement between season, single burns, or no burns. | Goebel, N.B. et al. 1967 | |
| Slow backfires followed by herbicide injection of remaining hardwoods. | NA | One-fourth of storm flow events increased by significant amounts. Overland flow increases were also observed which increased sediment loadings by approximately 400 lb/ac. | Ursic, S.J. 1970 | |
| Moderately intense prescribed burn. | NA | Significant soil movement was not detected. | Cushwa, C.T. et al. 1971 | |
| USAEC\xe2\x80\x99s Savannah River Plant, | Prescribed burn. | Cations in the runoff increased after the burn, NO3 and PO4 were high following the first rainfall after the fire, but not in subsequent rainfalls. | NA | Lewis, W.M., Jr., 1974 |
| Intense wildfire. | Largest nutrient increase was calciumNO3-N reached a maximum of 0.394 mg/L and the highest levels occurred in watersheds that received a fertilizer application and fire retardants.Increased levels of NO3-N, NH4-N, K, Na, Ca, and Mg occurred during the first year and levels were comparable to other natural and disturbed streams in the | TSS showed no relationship with watershed condition.Maximum concentration was 81.8 mg/L | Neary and Currier 1982 | |
| Prescribed fire | No changes in the chemical constituents of the stream that were solely attributable to the fire treatments. | NA | Richter, D.D. et al. 1982 | |
| Clemson Experimental | Prescribed burnflame heights averaged 0.3 m on two watersheds and ~1m on the other two watersheds | No significant changes in NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, or K following burns. | The burns did not significantly affect storm runoff, sediment concentrations, or sediment export. | Douglass, J.E. and Van Lear, D.H. 1983 |
| Clemson Experimental | Low-intensity prescribed burns | Nutrient export increased slightly but was due to harvesting\xe2\x80\x99s influence on runoff volumes. | Elevated sediment concentrations elevated slightly but was attributed to harvesting impacts. | Van Lear, D.H. et al. 1985 |
| High intensity broadcast burn.Average flame length was 1.0-1.5m, with 6-10m flames occurring near slash piles. | NA | No significant movement resulting from the burn.Soil infiltration rates unaffected. | Van Lear and Danieovich 1988 | |
| Site preparation burnNo flame temperature or height records available. | NA | Sediment production was low from 1x5m plots with slopes up to 30% and rainfall simulation intensities as high as 100 mm/hr. | Shahlaee, A.K. et al. 1991 | |
| Fires characterized as high intensity and light severity. | Stream water NO3- concentrations increased in the one stream sampled following the burn.Losses of N were below levels of concern for water quality or future site productivity | NA | Knoepp and Swank 1993 | |
| Site preparation burn. Maximum flame temperatures ranged from 33-78oC | NA | Residual forest floor was resistant to erosion. | Swift et al. 1993 | |
| < 52oC in low slope positions.160 to <152 oC at mid-slope.804 to as low as 52oC in upper slope positions. | No significant NO3-N or NH4-N response in stream water. | NA | Vose et al. 1999 | |
| The fire burned with low intensity and light severity, with maximum temperatures ranging between 200-300oC. | Increase loss of inorganic N, PO4-, K+, Mg+2, and Ca+2 was greater in runoff leaving burned plots but was too variable to be significantly higher statistically. | Sediment loss was significantly greater from burned plots than control plots. Maximum sediment loss followed first large storm event, then gradually decreased over the next 3 months. | Field, J.P. et al. 2000 |
