2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration

Rocky Mountain Field Institute
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
December 17, 2015
815 South 25th St, Suite 101
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
www.rmfi.org
Dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of public lands in the Pikes Peak Region
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 2
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Background
In the summer of 2012, the Waldo Canyon Fire broke out just west of Colorado Springs, burning
a total of 18,247 acres in four major sub-watersheds, within the greater Fountain Creek
Watershed. Of this acreage, 80% was on Pike National Forest lands. The loss of nearly 350
homes and two deaths, made it the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history at the time.
More than 60% of the burn scar exhibits a soil burn severity of moderate or high. A post-fire
sediment transport assessment, Watershed Assessment for River Stability and Sediment Supply –
WARSSS (Rosgen, et al, 2013), and a master plan for stabilization, The Waldo Canyon Fire
Master Plan for Watershed Restoration and Sediment Reduction (Rosgen et al, 2013), were
released to post-fire stabilization partners in the spring of 2013. Both documents continue to
guide on-the-ground stabilization and restoration work within the Waldo Canyon Burn Scar. Due
to the severity and location of the burn, water sources are continually threatened by increased
sedimentation caused by soil runoff originating from the burn scar. In addition, flash flooding
and heavy debris flows that occur with storm events continue to pose great risk to both the
ecological health of the area as well as the safety of individuals recreating within the burn scar
and to residents of bordering communities. Since the spring of 2013, the Rocky Mountain Field
Institute (RMFI), in close coordination with the U.S. Forest Service, has worked extensively
within the Waldo Canyon Burn Scar completing hillslope stabilization, infrastructure protection,
revegetation, and flood mitigation work, some of this under the federal Burned Area Emergency
Response (BAER) program. Since 2013, major portions of RMFI’s post-fire stabilization work in
areas of Upper Williams Canyon, Waldo Canyon, Blodgett Peak Open Space, and the Upper
Camp Creek Watershed have been greatly aided by funding from the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation and from local support through the Pikes Peak Community Foundation and the
Waldo Waldo 5K benefit event.
2015 Area of Focus - Waldo Canyon
Waldo Canyon, including the popular Waldo Canyon Trail, was heavily impacted by the fire and
has been closed to the public since 2012. In early season coordination with RMFI, the U.S.
Forest Service district hydrologist determined stabilization and restoration priority should be
given to a tributary drainage of Waldo Creek, draining the northwest portion of the canyon.
Through remote sensing and subsequent ground-truth visits, it was determined that this was one
of many burn scar areas in which vegetation was slow to re-establish over steep terrain and
where there were signs of continuing significant erosion and severe down-cutting of the drainage
bottom. A U.S. Forest Service Waldo Canyon Recovery graphic, including this area of concern,
is included in Appendix A. RMFI concentrated all but two of its Waldo Canyon post-fire
restoration workdays in this tributary drainage of Waldo Canyon in 2015. These efforts
complemented 2014 work to stabilize the Waldo Canyon Trail corridor as it transits areas to the
north and east of RMFI’s 2015 work area. Both years’ work areas are indicated on Figure 1.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 3
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Area of Detail
Figure 1. RMFI areas of work in Waldo Canyon in 2014 and 2015.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 4
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
2015 Work Accomplishments
RMFI ran 28 of its 30 Waldo Canyon Burn Scar restoration workdays in Waldo Canyon in 2015.
These workdays were spent with a combination of conservation crews and community
volunteers. Access to this area was moderately challenging, involving an approximately 1.5 mile
hike in, with the last half-mile off-trail and over steep side-slopes. Work there focused on reestablishing native vegetation and stabilizing bare hillslopes, treating head-cuts, and arresting
movement of sediment fans further down-drainage. Over the course of 2015 work in the Waldo
Creek northwest tributary, from late April through mid-October, RMFI staff saw dramatic
changes as the drainage bottom was rapidly carved out by historic rainfall in May, and as a very
thick proliferation of 2nd-year Common Mullein plants began to cover major portions of the work
area. Volunteers and crews initially installed 183 log erosion barriers (LEBs) along bare and
rilled hillsides and seeded around these structures with a “dry mountain” native grass seed mix
earlier prescribed by the ranger district. Next, 47 sills-for-rills were emplaced to interrupt deeper
rilling on hillsides and in areas where rilling developed as smaller drainages fanned out. RMFI
placed 7 large contour logs (generally 20 to 30 feet long) in a large sediment fan at the upper
drainage to arrest some of the movement of sediment down-drainage. Finally, RMFI staff located
a number of significant head-cuts progressing up the main drainage and up a side-drainage and
stabilized many of them with 7 log step-fall structures. The largest of these head-cuts was a
multi-headed cut with its largest head measuring approximately 22 feet wide and 6 feet in depth.
Figure 2 shows the locations of these stabilization structures.
In 2015, RMFI also ran 2 workdays outside of Waldo Canyon proper. One day was conducted as
part of annual staff training at a former RMFI work site in Upper Williams Canyon (Pike
National Forest land) where 1 LEB and 1 sill were built. RMFI also collaborated with other local
post-fire restoration organizations in hosting a third annual “Fire Restoration Skills Training”
day for regional crew leaders on Flying W Ranch property, directly below Pike National Forest
property and at the outlet of Douglas Creek. During this instructional day, volunteer students
built 5 LEBs, transplanted 75 willow stakes, and stabilized 1,000 square feet of detention pond
periphery with native seed. Other RMFI monitoring work supporting BAER effectiveness
monitoring of three sub-watersheds in the Waldo Canyon Burn Scar is covered under a separate
report.
Total 2015 Waldo Canyon Burn Scar Work Statistics:
•
•
29 total workdays
o Community volunteers: 10
o Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC): 8
o Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC): 9
o RMFI staff-only site preparation: 2
85 community volunteers engaged
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 5
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
•
•
•
2,821 total on-the-ground hours worked
o 680 hours of volunteer work (equates to a value of $15,682)
o 1,636 hours of contract crew work (MHYC and SCC)
o 505 hours of RMFI field staff work
256 total sediment detention and hillslope stabilization structures installed
o 189 log erosion barriers
o 48 log sills
o 12 large log sills (contour logs)
o 7 log step-falls (including a large 22’ wide by 6’ high treatment)
5.2 acres of moderate to severe burn area treated (areas containing structure and
restoration treatments and areas immediately below to the drainage)
o 30 pounds of native seed spread on scarred hillslopes and behind stabilization
structures
o 75 willow stakes transplanted
Figure 2. Locations of stabilization structures installed in Waldo Canyon 2015 restoration work.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 6
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Photos from 2015 Waldo Canyon Post-Fire Stabilization Work
Additional photos are located in Appendix B.
Figure 3. Before and after photos of a stabilization spot-treatment with LEBs of a rilled slope in May 2015. Crews
worked around significant vegetation and rocky areas which were already helping to disperse run-off.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 7
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Figure 4. Before and during photos (taken in opposing directions) of erosion rilling through an aggradation of
sediment and construction of a series of log sills-for-rills to interrupt the rilling. This area is at the toe of a
sharply-defined minor drainage where head-cutting further up had released large volumes of sediment. The
areas above and below each log sill were re-contoured and seeded to spread and slow water flows and drop
sediment.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 8
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Figure 5. Before and after photos showing stabilization of a typical head-cut with a log step-fall. The inset
photo shows crewmembers stacking progressively shorter logs to achieve a batter effect to step water flow
down.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 9
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Figure 6. Before and after series showing the construction of the largest log step-fall to stabilize an irregularshaped head-cut of approximately 22 feet wide by 6 feet high. This head-cut is located at the upper extent of
severe down-cutting in the northwest tributary drainage. Key to this treatment technique is to butt the ends of
each tier of logs tightly against the earthen wall or “nick-point” and to “step” water down over successively
longer logs.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 10
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Future Work
Even as 2016 will mark the 4th year since the fire, we anticipate continued need for stabilization
and restoration work in targeted areas of the burn scar, as evidenced by continued sediment flows
into the lower portions of impacted watersheds and areas of apparent slow regeneration of native
plant growth. Climatology models suggest expected weakening of the current very strong El
Nino event in the early spring of 2016 that may act to shift the storm track over central Colorado,
including the burn scar in the spring (Western Water Assessment, 2015). As with 2015, we could
expect that enhanced precipitation will pose a mixed blessing in the burn scar.
RMFI looks forward to scheduled discussions in mid-December with the Pikes Peak Ranger
District concerning priority work in the burn scar in 2016. Recent informal discussion between
the several organizations involved in the annual Fire Restoration Skills Training series, including
RMFI, indicates that there is interest in hosting a fourth annual training event in the spring of
2016.
RMFI Contact Information
Andy Riter
RMFI Program Coordinator
719-471-7736
[email protected]
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 11
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Appendix A. Waldo Canyon Recovery Graphic
Figure 7. Excerpt from a USFS Pike National Forest Waldo Canyon Burn Recovery graphic released in
early spring 2015. The inset enlarges the Waldo Canyon area. The yellow ellipse indicates RMFI’s 2015
work area.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 12
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Appendix B. Additional Photos of 2015 Restoration Work.
Figure 8. A RMFI sawyer preparing material for LEB structures. Note the flow in the
drainage bottom (middle section of the NW tributary) in early May cutting through
and below aggraded sediment. Crews observed this channel to cut deeper and
deeper throughout spring rains and the summer monsoon season.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 13
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Run-off catchment & sediment depositional area
Stakes
Wing
adaptation
Top View
Figure 9. Photo of a larger LEB array to stabilize a large area of hillslope. As with other RMFI-supervised
LEB construction in this burn scar, these LEBs are set with short wings on each side to ensure capacity
for run-off catchment and sediment deposition, encouraging water to “sheet” over the length of the
LEB rather than around the ends (top view in lower graphic). This is a RMFI adaptation to the NRCS
design to suit our erosive decomposed granite soils.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 14
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
Figure 10. Before and after photos of LEBs added below and within an existing LEB array in
September to further stabilize slope following heavy rain events in May (before significant seed
germination). The after photo shows more bare soil exposed as volunteers re-contoured and reseeded to interrupt rilling.
Rocky Mountain Field Institute 15
2015 Annual Report – Waldo Canyon Fire Restoration
References
Rosgen, D., Rosgen, B., Collins, S., Nankervis, J., & Wright, K. (2013). Watershed
Assessment for River Stability and Sediment Supply – WARSSS
http://adm.elpasoco.com/emprep/Documents/1.%20Waldo%20Canyon%20Fire%20
Assessment%20Report[1].pdf
Rosgen, D., Rosgen, B., Collins, S., & Nankervis, J. (2013). The Waldo Canyon Fire
Master Plan for Watershed Restoration & Sediment Reduction.
http://www.uppersouthplatte.org/pdf/WARSSS/FinalWaldoCanyonFireMasterResto
rationPlan.pdf
Western Water Assessment (WWA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Earth Systems
Research Laboratory (NOAA ESRL) (October 23, 2015). 2-Page Briefing, El Nino
Impacts for Colorado – Fall, Winter, Spring 2015-2016.
http://wwa.colorado.edu/publications/reports/WWAPSD_El_Nino_Briefing_October2015_FINAL.pdf