It may sound simple, but water doesn’t burn.
That’s the opening line of a recent federal report on the promise of process-based restoration — or PBR — for wildland firefighters, who are increasingly turning to the practice to aid their suppression and prescribed fire efforts.
There are a number of PBR techniques used to restore rivers and streams, but their common effects are raising water tables and increasing soil moisture. Those changes come with a number of ecological benefits, like improving habitats for fish and elk.
But they can also aid firefighters when trying to suppress blazes, as well as making ecosystems more resilient to wildfires when they come and better able to recover in their wake.
“We have fire practitioners now who are integrating this, not just folks in fisheries and hydrology and watersheds,” said Jen Croft, co-author of the report and national applied fire ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service. “We're seeing that big shift in mentality, that it's a normalized reality for fire suppression as much as it is for ecosystem function.”
By collapsing beaver populations, straightening and ditching streams and allowing cattle to graze on riverside vegetation, humans have had a dramatic impact on western waterways for centuries, according to the report. The result is deep, narrow waterways that are cut off from surrounding floodplains, which allows invasive and more flammable plant species to take over former wetlands.
“Intact wetland complexes and streams connected to their floodplains can better withstand wildfires, provide refuge from fire for fish, wildlife, and plants, then capture ash and sediment following wildfire,” the report reads.
On the lower-tech side of PBR work, there’s the reintroduction of beavers and the building of structures that resemble their famous dams. Logs and other woody materials from hazardous fuel thinning projects can also be strategically placed in waterways. On the higher-tech side, heavy machinery is used to fill in deep channels.
These methods have been in use for years. What’s new, Croft said, is increasing coordination between those pursuing PBR for ecological purposes, and those turning to them to aid fire response and post-fire recovery.
She says there’s increasing coordination between firefighters and those who have been using PBR for years to maximize ecological and fire protection benefits.
Instead of working in isolated bubbles, Croft said they’re now working to identify projects that can both “restore a natural ecosystem” and help firefighters “looking for a good spot to make a stand.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
