Southwest Wildfire Hydrology & Hazard Workshop Proceedings

This open-file report (OFR) presents materials from the 2012 Southwest Wildfire Hydrology & Hazards Workshop, including the workshop schedule, presentation abstracts, and a list of attendees. The oral presentations and posters are part of this OFR and are available for viewing from the Arizona Geological Survey Document Repository (http://repository.http://http://azgs.arizona.edu///). A second OFR scheduled for fall 2012 will host white papers produced by the working groups. Approximately 70 participants, representing various federal, state, and local agencies, researchers and practitioners, gathered at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2, north of Tucson, between April 3rd-5th for the 2012 Southwest Wildfire Hydrology and Hazards Workshop. The purpose of the workshop was two-fold: 1) share the most recent research regarding post-fire hydrology and hazard assessments and mitigation and warning systems; and 2) discuss ideas for bridging funding gaps for research and warning system implementation. Representatives from the U.S. Forest Service kicked off the 3-day workshop with a discussion of the philosophy and policies of the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program, which is responsible for rapid post-fire assessments of forest service lands burned by wildfires. Included in this presentation was a discussion of the operations, restrictions and limitations of BAER, along with examples from the BAER assessments for the 2011 Wallow, Monument and Horseshoe 2 Fires. Subsequent presentations addressed modeling of post-fire hydrologic processes, warning systems, and current research. Dr. Peter Robichaud’s lunchtime keynote address focused on recent research regarding the effectiveness of hillslope mitigation treatments used by BAER teams. The day was rounded out with an evening keynote talk by Dr. Thomas Swetnam on historical and current fire regimes in the Southwest, and the implications of climate change. The second day of the workshop consisted of a field trip to the 2011 Monument Fire near Sierra Vista, Arizona, to see post-fire flood warning systems installed by the USGS, hillslope treatments implemented by the BAER team, channel mitigation measures implemented by county and federal agencies to protect downstream private residents, and to observe evidence of, and damages from, post-fire floods and debris flows. The workshop closed with final presentations on post-fire research and a roundtable discussion on key issues, such as pre-season readiness, during-incident support, post-fire responses for hazard warnings and research, and identification of steps needed to address those issues. Working groups formed to synthesize the workshop findings, and to recommend actions to effectively address the issues.Documents in the AZGS Document Repository collection are made available by the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) and the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information about items in this collection, please contact azgs-info@email.arizona.edu