Post-fire Treatment Effectiveness for Hillslope Stabilization
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Dry Mulches
Straw mulch was first used for post-fire treatments in the 1980's, but it was not widely used until 2000 when the number of large high soil burn severity fires began to increase.During the past decade, aerial application techniques for straw mulch have made it possible to apply mulches more efficiently and to treat inaccessible burned areas, making it a viable treatment alternative for the large fires that occur in the mountainous western U.S.
There are on-going post-fire treatment effectiveness studies within these burned areas. Although few studies have been published, preliminary data indicate that dry mulching can be a highly effective post-fire hillslope treatment.
Mulch is frequently applied to improve the germination of seeded grasses and a combination of mulching and seeding has been more effective than seeding alone at multiple locations (Badia and Marti 2000; Bautista and others 2005; Dean 2001). The mulch cover enhances seed germination and growth by increasing soil moisture and protecting the seeds from being washed down-slope.
Agricultural straw mulches often contain non-native seed species that can persist and compete with the re-establishment of native vegetation.
Although wood mulching is less common than straw mulching, wood chips, wood shreds, and wood strands (thin wood strips manufactured from non-merchantable timber or production waste, such as WoodStrawTM) are increasingly being developed and used for post-fire treatment. As we look at post-fire stabilization effects over a longer time frame, new approaches that fit into ecological restoration schemes are gaining interest. This approach promotes the use of dry mulches developed from local, site-specific forest materials (wood chips or wood shreds manufactured on site from burned trees, shredded debris from forest-clearing or post-fire logging, etc.) for post-fire erosion control.
[mulch treatments] [hydromulches]
Post-fire Treatment Effectiveness for Hillslope Stabilization
Peter R. Robichaud, Louise E. Ashmun, Bruce D. Sims
USDA Forest Service - RMRS - Moscow Forestry Sciences
Laboratory
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