Effects of controlled burning of chaparral on streamflow and sediment characteristics, East Fork Sycamore Creek, central Arizona

Baldys, Stanley, III; Hjalmarson, H. W.

Abstract:

The effects of controlled burning of part of a chaparral-covered drainage basin on streamflow and sediment characteristics were studied in the upper reaches of the Sycamore Creek basin in central Arizona. A paired-watershed method was used to analyze data collected in two phases separated by the controlled burning of 45 percent of the East Fork Sycamore Creek drainage basin by the U.S. Forest Service on October 31, 1981. Statistically significant increases in streamflow in East Fork occurred from October 26, 1982, through August 25, 1984. Streamflow for August 26, 1984, through the end of data collection for the study on May 31, 1986, was generally at or less than preburn levels. An increase in the percentage of time that flow occurred in East Fork was noted for water years 1983 and 1984. No increase in the magnitude of instantaneous peak flows as a result of the burn was discernable at statistically significant levels. Suspended-sediment yields computed for data collected during water year 1983 were significantly greater in the East Fork drainage basin, 546 tons per square mile, than in the West Fork drainage basin, 22.6 tons per square mile. Suspended-sediment yields computed for East Fork and West Fork for water year 1985, 38.3 and 13.3 tons per square mile, respectively, were much closer in yield. These more uniform yields indicate a possible return to preburn conditions. Data collection did not begin until 11 months after the burn; therefore, the largest increases in streamflow and sediment yields, which commonly occur during the year after a burn, may not have been measured. During the second through fourth years after the burn, smaller increases in stream- flow and sediment yields were found in this study than were found in similar studies in this region.

Genre:

USGS Numbered Series

ProdID:

26031

Citation Author:

Baldys, Stanley, III; Hjalmarson, H. W.

Citation Contributing Office:

Citation Datum:

Citation Day:

Citation Edition:

Citation Editor:

Citation End Page:

Citation Issue:

Citation Keywords:

Citation Language:

ENGLISH

Citation Larger Work Title:

Citation LatN:

Citation LatS:

Citation LonE:

Citation LonW:

Citation Month:

Citation No Pagination:

Citation Number Of Pages:

Citation Online Only Flag:

Citation Phsyical Description:

v, 33 p. :ill., map ;28 cm.

Citation Projection:

Citation Public Comments:

Citation Publisher:

U.S. Geological Survey ; Earth Science Information Center, Books and Open-File Reports Section [distributor],

Citation Series:

Water-Resources Investigations Report

Citation Series Code:

WRI

Citation Series Number:

93-4102

Citation Search Results Text:

Effects of controlled burning of chaparral on streamflow and sediment characteristics, East Fork Sycamore Creek, central Arizona; 1994; WRI; 93-4102; Baldys, Stanley, III; Hjalmarson, H. W.

Citation Start Page:

Citation Volume:

Citation Year:

1994

Type:

citation/reference

Text:

Effects of controlled burning of chaparral on streamflow and sediment characteristics, East Fork Sycamore Creek, central Arizona; 1994; WRI; 93-4102; Baldys, Stanley, III; Hjalmarson, H. W.