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Assessing the combined effect of land management and wildfire on runoff and soil erosion in north central Portugal

Strong and sometimes extreme responses in runoff and soil erosion following wildfires have been reported worldwide. However, in the case of North-Central Portugal, little research had been carried out regarding the
hydrologic and erosive impacts of several land management activities in recently burnt areas (such as ground preparation, post-fire logging or post-fire mitigation treatments). This study aims to assess post-fire runoff and soil
erosion response on Eucalypt and Maritime pine plantations during the first, second and third years following wildfires. The effect of several pre-fire ground preparation operations (ploughed down-slope, contour ploughed and inclined terraces), post-fire logging activities (on both the eucalypt and pine plantations), as well as the application of hydromulch (a post-fire emergency treatment) on overland flow and soil erosion were compared to burnt but undisturbed and untreated areas. The intensive monitoring of runoff, soil erosion and selected soil properties served to determine the main factors involved in post-fire runoff and soil erosion and their spatial and temporal variation. Soil water repellency deserved special attention, due to its supposed important role for overland flow
generation. Repeated rainfall simulation experiments (RSE’s), micro-scale runoff plots and bounded sediment fences were carried out and/or installed immediately after the wildfire on seven burnt slopes. Micro-scale runoff plots
results under natural rainfall conditions were also compared to the RSE’s results, which was useful for assessing the representativeness of the data obtained with artificial rainfall.
The results showed comparable runoff coefficient (20-60%) but lower sediment losses (125-1000 g m-2) than prior studies in Portugal, but especially outside Portugal. Lower sediment losses were related with the historic intensive
land use in the area. In evaluating these losses, however, the shallowness and stoniness of the soils, as well as the high organic matter fraction of the eroded sediments (50%) must not be overlooked. Sediment limited erosion was measured in all the ploughed sites, probably due to the time since ploughing (several years). The disturbance of the soil surface cover due to post-fire logging and wood extraction substantially increased sediment losses at both the pine and eucalypt sites. Hydromulch effectiveness in reducing the runoff (70%) and sediment losses (83%) was attributed to the protective high coverage provided by hydromulch. The hydromulch significantly affected the
soil cover and other soil properties and these changes also reduced the soil erosion risk.
The rainfall amount was the main factor explaining the variance in runoff. However, a shift from rainfall amount to rainfall intensity was detected when either the surface cover or the infiltration capacity (hydrophilic conditions)
increased. Sediment losses were controlled by rainfall intensity and surface cover. The role of soil water repellency on runoff generation was not consistent; the overall…