Watershed AnalysisUsing WEPP Technology

For the Clear Creek Restoration Project

Bill Elliot & Ina Sue MillerRocky Mountain Research Station

International ESRI User ConferenceJuly 10-14, 2017San Diego, CA

•An overview of our approach to analyzing the watershed impacts of the propose actions on the Clear Creek Restoration Project

•Accessing the GeoWEPP and ArcMap files generated during the analysis

•Evaluating erosion on an individual treatment

What we are presenting

Methods – An overview •FlamMap

-LANDFIRE DATABASE

-FireFamilyPlus

•GeoWEPP and Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP)

-Rapid Response Erosion Database (RRED)

FlamMap Burn

Severity mapArcMapGeoWEPPRRED

DatabaseLANDFIRE/

FireFamilyPlus

8 Proposed Treatments

647 Treatment Units

5600 ha (13,800 acres)

Within an 18,000-ha(44,000-acre) watershed

What were we given?

FlamMap analysis

Simulated model for current fuel load conditions – LANDFIRE Database and FireFamilyPlus

Note: Only low and unburned flame lengths

Vaillant, N.M., Ager, A.A., Anderson, J. 2013

Note: The highest intensity fires were on the ridge tops

Forest Erosion modeling with WEPP

Climate data

Climate forecast FS WEPP Database Land use/management

FS WEPP Database Soil parameters

GeoWEPP

Erosion maps

Treatment/burn severity raster

Land cover data Soil data

Rapid ResponseErosion Database (RRED)

DEM

Slope

Adapted from Miller, ME, 2017

Data prep for WEPP modeling•GIS data from the Rapid Response Erosion Database – RRED

•Input includes: - Personal raster (FlamMap)-Area of choice-Selection of past soil burn severity raster (1984-2014)

FlamMap Burn

Severity mapArcMapGeoWEPPRRED

Database

Data prep for WEPP modeling

• Divide area into 40 smaller watersheds with Fire ArcToolbox (Miller, ME, 2016)

• Collected GIS data from the Rapid Response Erosion Database – RRED- Input includes:

- Personal raster (FlamMap)- Area of choice- Selection of past soil burn severity raster (1984-2014)

- Output includes:- DEM- Soils raster- Land cover raster

Estimated erosion with GeoWEPP for:

- the FlamMap intensities- the proposed

treatments for every treatment unit polygon

- 280 simulationsUse GIS tools to extract GeoWEPP erosion within the treatment unit area

Erosion estimate map – tractor logging

Predicted erosion ratesTreatment Proposed Area

(ha)Estimated Erosion

Rate (Mg/ha)

Wildfire under Current Conditions 3500 4.56

Wildfire following fuel treatments 3500 0.047

Undisturbed Forest 3500 0.22

Pre-commercial Thin, Tractor 1300 0.86

Pre-commercial Thin, Skyline 400 0.44

Regeneration, Tractor 675 0.93

Regeneration, Skyline 1000 0.49

Improvement, Tractor 25 0.73

Improvement, Skyline 110 0.29

Prescribed Fire, Broadcast Burn 360 1.24

Prescribed Fire, Jackpot Burn 200 1.89

Overall watershed summary

Source Frequency of Disturbance

(years)

Year of Disturbance (Mg/km2)

Average Annual

(Mg/km2)

Forest Surface Erosion 1 - 7

Landslides 20 70 4

Wildfire on 44,000 acres every 80 years 80 455 6

Treatment of 10,000 acres once every 20 years 20 19 1

-Buffering is not available in GeoWEPP

-Channel algorithms need improvement in WEPP routines

-WEPP does not model landslides or debris flows.

Things to consider…

Results can be used to:

-Produce more detailed maps

-Adjust treatment scenarios

-Enhance analysis of individual treatment units

LANDFIRE DATABASE - https://www.landfire.gov/

FireFamilyPlus - https://www.firelab.org/project/firefamilyplus

FlamMap - https://www.firelab.org/project/flammap

ArcFuels - https://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/tools/arcfuels/index.php

Rapid Response Erosion Database (RRED) -http://geodjango.mtri.org/geowepp/

GeoWEPP - http://geowepp.geog.buffalo.edu/

Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) - http://milford.nserl.purdue.edu/https://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fswepp/

This project was supported by:Nez-Perce National ForestNASA Applied Sciences Program for Wildfires Grant #NNX12AQ89G

Questions?