US wildfires caused widespread ecological damage to river system: Survey

Destructive wildfires in the United States have been impacting the ecological systems, the water basins, and the rivers deteriorating the water quality and creating substantial soil erosion issues, new surveys have found. High Park Fire, the second largest and second most destructive fire in the history of the US State of Colorado that scorched 87,284 acres of land in June 2021 has degraded the water system of the nearby river system, with a detrimental impact on the fishery. The very first rain events that followed the 2021 fire caused rapid and frequent spikes in turbidity as ash and sediments were washed from the hill slopes into the river, a survey from the United States Department of Culture found. 

[Flames consume a home surrounded by trees on Highway 89. Credit: AP]

Another survey conducted by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) approximately a year after the Cameron Peak Fire, the Centennial State's worst fire on record shows that because the marine ecosystems were widely damaged, and many fishes were killed and the impacts are largely felt even till date. The deadly fire had charred some 461 structures, took thousands of fire fighting crew to bring the rapidly spreading blazes under control, and had incurred the US millions of dollars into recovery. 

"The runoff events we shot this summer, post-fire, have had a detrimental impact on the fishery," a US-based aquatic biologist Kyle Battige told the CBS Denver station this week.

[Long exposure photograph, embers light up hillsides during wildfires. Credit: AP]

Detrimental impact of wildfires 5 years later

CPW has been monitoring 'the detrimental impact the blaze had on fish in the Poudre River,' CBS reported. And despite the drought conditions throughout the Western US Colorado, the state had significant precipitation this fall, CBS reported, citing the wildlife officers. Meanwhile, the High Park Fire that erased 87,415 acres of the forested landscape nearly destroyed the Poudre River watershed, the adjacent Rist Canyon, and Buckhorn Creek drainages. “When the smoke cleared, the losses were enormous [insured losses totalling $113 million],” a survey by the United States Department of Culture stated.  

With the Poudre River serving as the main water source for the cities of Fort Collins and Greeley as well as several surrounding communities, authorities scrambled to do erosion control and preservation of water quality in collaboration with the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team. The techniques such as cleaning the wood mulch and shreds over roughly 10,000 acres and other measures such as ‘seeding’ were taken to stabilize soil and restore the ecosystem.

[Firefighters battle the wildfires as it burns in the trail. Credit: AP]

Wildfire resulted in water pollution

In the aftermath of the wildfire, there was ash and sediments washed into the river that polluted the water systems, also causing significant erosion and debris flows. Brad Piehl, a consultant with JW Associates, was hired to undertake risk analysis who implemented an approach that used the 'watershed target factors' to create a hazard ranking map to tackle the recovery for Poudre River. 

But since the rain on the burn scar caused flooding in the Poudre Canyon in July of this year, this resulted in several deaths, wildlife officers with CPW have been monitoring "the detrimental impact the blaze had on fish in the Poudre River," CBS reported on Sunday. While the marine life had been severely impacted, Senior CPW aquatic biologist Jeff Spohn told the station, "We will hold off on fish population impact comments until we can collect standardize data."

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