POST-FIRE INSTREAM AND RIPARIAN LARGE WOOD LOADING, BOULDER CREEK, WYOMING

Wildland fire is a natural disturbance with multiple impacts for watersheds. This project is part of a larger long-term study on sediment dynamics, large wood (LW) recruitment, and channel response following the Boulder Creek fire on the Bridger-Teton National Forest, northwest Wyoming. The larger project includes detailed examination over time of 10 study reaches (100 m in length) in a burned watershed (Boulder Creek) and an adjacent unburned watershed (Little Granite Creek). Objectives of this portion of the overall study are to (1) quantify and compare LW recruitment to the channel and floodplain along 1300 meters in the severely burned portion of the Boulder Creek watershed; (2) evaluate the remaining (still standing) LW pieces in the riparian area 12 years post-fire; (3) combine findings with those of the long-term study to further examine LW transport and loading following fire. Methods included a complete inventory of in channel and floodplain LW (> 10 cm diameter), as well as standing snags and large trees. Results are pending, and will be compared to conceptual model predictions of LW recruitment following fire, thus contributing to understanding of post-fire channel and riparian processes. GeoCorps internship experience included learning methods and study approaches from research scientists in a naturally burned watershed and gaining experience on a project with implications for post-fire management of streams and riparian areas on public lands. The summer internship was sponsored by GeoCorps America in collaboration with the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Bridger-Teton National Forest, and was funded by the National Fire Plan.