USGS: Erosion following wildfire has increased in California since 1984

Large amounts of soil erode following wildfire, particularly if heavy rainfall occurs on the burned area within the first year after the fire.

Here’s the link to a new report on this topic. However, in my experience studying and walking parts of all the large fires that have burned in the Klamath Mountains since 1987, I found that most of the post-fire sediment comes from road crossing failures {plugged culverts and blowouts}, not hillslopes. 

The problem is made much worse because the US Forest Service only has funding adequate to maintain about 25% of the roads on national forest land to applicable standards. Whether “stormproofed” (a FS euphemism) or not, native  and gravel surface roads need regular maintenance and will deliver sediment to streams at some point (usually during a big storm) if not adequately maintained.

I predict that, as in the past, we will see road failure sediment that dwarf the sediment released as a result of dam removal during the next big storm event that impacts the Klamath River Basin.

100,000 or more miles of unmaintained logging roads will continue to prevent restoration of salmon and steelhead abundance. That is why those who love sdalmon and the Klamath River must pressure Forest Service Managers to get rid of (decommission and put to bed) non-essential roads they can not afford to adequately maintain.

In my view, those paid to fix the Klamath River are not paying enough attention to the problem of poorly maintained logging roads.