Gila Water Resources II: Using Earth Observations to Identify Wildfire Impacts on Hydrologic Functions and Recovery in the Gila National Forest

Abstract

Wildfires have the potential to cause devastating and long-lasting impacts on ecological systems. In the Gila NF, wildfire events have occurred with increasing frequency and severity over recent years. These disturbances such as the historic Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire (2012) and Silver Fire (2013) have raised concerns over post-fire soil erosion, flooding, debris flows, and vegetation recovery. Understanding the connection between burn events and ecological functions is crucial for developing effective land management practices within the Gila NF that ensure the conservation of the watershed. Our Gila Water Resources II team worked in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) US Forest Service’s (USFS) Gila National Forest and Region 3. This project was designed to provide insight into the influence of wildfires on increased flooding events and to determine if restoration efforts in the Gila NF are having a beneficial and noticeable impact on recovery. The goals of this project included generating data-supported end products to inform land management decisions, including the prioritization of specific regions and time scales for post-fire restoration efforts. To understand recovery trends and hydrologic impact in the Gila NF between 2000 and 2020, this project used NASA EO and ancillary data, including, but not limited to, Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), USGS stream gauge data, and data provided by USDA USFS’s Gila National Forest and Region 3.