Characterizing the Influence of Fire on Hydrology in Southern California

Abstract

The chaparral-dominated national forests of southern California were in part established to provide water provision services to the surrounding urban populations and irrigation for agriculture. However, water provision in the form of groundwater recharge and surface runoff depends on the climatological conditions of any given year and also landscape-scale disturbances such as fire. Fire is increasing in frequency in southern California and understanding its impacts both immediately postfire and as vegetation recovers, and the interactions between fire and hydrology, are key components to managing federal lands effectively. In this study we focus on nine fires in a study area that encompasses the four southern California national forests (Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino, and Cleveland) and use a water balance model to investigate the effects of water provision services post-fire at a regional scale. We found that runoff and recharge increased post-fire, with increases in recharge being greater with recovery times ranging from 2 to 4 y post-fire. Vegetation recovery occurred 2 y post-fire for all basins as indicated by remotely sensed imagery measuring vegetation greenness having returned to or exceeded pre-fire values for the basin. We found that runoff and recharge were more sensitive to the effects of climate than to length of time post-fire. Findings from these modeling tools allow users to anticipate the impact of fire on water provision services in the region and develop management strategies that help reduce the impacts of wildfire.