RAPID: FULL ACCOUNTING OF PYROGENIC-C DYNAMICS AT THE WATERSHED SCALE: A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY OFFERED BY THE HIGH PARK FIRE

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

Carbon is the main building block of all vegetation, as well as the organic component of soils. In order to predict the effects of wildfires on forest carbon storage in a future where more fires are expected to occur, a better understanding of the cycling of carbon is therefore critical. This project focuses on pyrogenic, or black carbon and its related fluxes, a component that has been largely ignored in earlier studies. During fire a fraction of the burned carbon, perhaps up to ten percent of the total, is converted to black carbon and deposited in the soil, where it may runoff in water or remain stored. In many fire-prone ecosystems, black carbon comprises more than 20 percent of soil organic matter. The High Park Fire burned more than 35,000 hectares in June 2012 along the Cache la Poudre River in Northern Colorado and, in the process, created a unique opportunity to conduct a full initial accounting of black carbon dynamics, from production to deposition, storage, and runoff. This project will determine the rate of production of black carbon from the High Park Fire, its rate of loss in erosion compared to its accumulation deeper in soil, its export by water runoff through an intensive water monitoring effort, and deposition along river banks and in stream bed sediments. Stored samples of sediments and water from before and after the fire will be used along with new samples taken over the following year. State of the art methods will be used to accurately quantify black carbon in all soil, sediment and water samples. This will provide valuable measurements in support of a more mechanistic understanding and modeling of black carbon dynamics in mountain ecosystems increasingly prone to fires. After the many fires of 2012, the general public is more than ever interested in their causes and consequences. An open panel on fires, pyrogenic carbon, and their impacts on water resources and climate change will be organized locally. Additionally, the project will develop an inquiry project aimed at engaging secondary school students in Colorado Front Range communities and rural eastern Colorado, which includes a large Hispanic population. A lesson on black carbon will be framed as a forensic detective mystery to determine where and when a fire occurred. Students will analyze samples to solve the mystery and lead into discussions on the causes and consequences of wildfires. Effectiveness of outreach will be assessed using pre- and post-tests administered by experts at Colorado State University.