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Burned Area Emergency Response Tools |
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BAER Tools ->
Post-Fire Road Treatment Tools ->
Post-Fire Peak Flow and Erosion Estimation ->
ERMiT ->
Supplement
Details of ERMiT ERMiT is an FS WEPP Interface, based on the WEPP model developed by an interagency group of scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, Forest Service, and Soil Conservation Service (currently Natural Resources Conservation Service); U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management; U.S. Geological Survey; and several university cooperators. The WEPP model predicts soil erosion and sediment delivery water using stochastic weather generation, infiltration theory, hydrology, soil physis, plant sciences, hydraulics, and erosion mechanics (Flanagan and Livingston, 1995). The Forest Service WEPP (FS WEPP) Interfaces were developed by the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station, Soil and Water Engineering, Moscow, Idaho. They are user-friendly, online tools for various forest applications, and consist of the following individual interfaces:
Recent developments now allow WEPP simulations using digital sources of information with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This GIS wizard is called GeoWEPP (https://www.geog.buffalo.edu/~rensch/geowepp/), and it has been under development for forest conditions since about 2002 with funding from the Joint Fire Science Program (Renschler 2003; Renschler 2007). GeoWEPP will allow BEAR team members to model pre- and post-fire conditions at a watershed scale.
Range/Chaparral Pre-Fire Community Description This can be defined by users if "range" or "chaparral" is selected for vegetation type.
This consists of top gradient, the steepness (in percent) of the upper portion of the hillslope; middle gradient, the steepness of the main portion; and toe gradient, the steepness of the lower portion. The top and toe gradients each represent 10% of the hillslope length and the middle gradient represents 80%.
This is often short duration (less than 1 hour) high intensity storm as many BAER team members described.
ERMiT reports rainfall event rankings and characteristics (including runoff), the exceedance probability associated with sediment delivery, and mitigation treatment comparisons (e.g. untreated, seeding, mulching with application rate of 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 ton/acre, erosion barriers, and contour-felled logs/straw wattles).
These include seeding, mulching, erosion barriers, and contour-felled logs/straw wattles.
ERMiT is applicable to any part of U.S. and to other countries as long as the required climate information is available.
ERMiT assumes a rectangular hillslope; therefore, it is difficult for BAER team members to apply for post-fire conditions at a watershed scale (>2 mi2).
REFERENCES
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USDA Forest Service - RMRS - Moscow Forestry Sciences
Laboratory |