Some of the burned pinyon/juniper areas will be spot-seeded, and about 20 acres of important winter range for elk will be hand-seeded, according to Forest Service specialists who have reviewed the area and recommended solutions to the problems created by the fire. Roads and off-road travel will be closed in the Pinhook area and cows will be kept off the burned land. Grand County will also install two new culverts and enlarge two others to protect the La Sal Mountain Loop Road from increased run-off, officials said at a BAER information meeting, conducted by Forest Service wildlife specialist Barb Smith, hydrologist Katherine Foster, and soil scientist Bob Davidson, last week. About 20 Castle Valley residents attended the meeting.
BAER, burned area emergency response, is the immediate response an agency will implement for a wildfire once the fire is put out. The timing is critical, according to Davidson, to install treatments before the first damaging storms. He explained that rainwater does not soak into the ground after a fire, instead it runs off in sheets.
If the topsoil washes away the remaining soil is sterile and will not revegetate for a long time, he said. Seeding is done by helicopter, because the seeds are not ground into the soil, is not very effective. “Mulch is where it’s at,” Davidson said.
For that reason, dropping agricultural straw-bale mulch on lesser slopes and baled-wood mulch on slopes steeper than 40 percent is the first response, he said. The mulch will scatter down-slope to protect large areas from run-off. The mulch is cheat-grass free and lasts for a couple of years while bacteria work to restore the soil’s ability to absorb water and help plants grow.
An assessment team of forest specialists surveyed the Porcupine Ranch burn area immediately after the fire and determined that of the 3,400 acres burned, 1,200 acres were rated as “high severity,” 1,100 acres were rated at moderate, and 1,100 acres were considered “low severity.”
High severity means that the soil becomes “hydrophobic,” and resists absorbing water.
Davidson said the worry is for next year, when vegetation will not yet be reestablished. If a big storm comes it not only could wash away the topsoil, it also could pose a great threat to Castle Valley properties as it roars off the mountain, he said.
Davidson urged the residents to work with Grand County emergency services personnel to ensure they receive immediate notification from the national weather service of impending storms.
He also explained that the National Resources Conservation Service conducts an emergency watershed protection program designed for private land threatened by the aftermath of wildfires.
According to the NRCS website, “The purpose of the Emergency Watershed Protection program is to undertake emergency measures, including the purchase of flood plain easements, for runoff retardation and soil erosion prevention to safeguard lives and property from floods, drought, and the products of erosion on any watershed whenever fire, flood or any other natural occurrence is causing or has caused a sudden impairment of the watershed.”
It was determined that Castle Valley could be the sponsor of such a community program. Residents are urged to contact Castle Valley Mayor Damian Bollermann for information.