Erosion and Fish Habitat

Step Wise Guide

Post Wildfire Planning

At what locations does the highest fire severity overlap with the highest erosion potential, and where do those locations overlap with quality aquatic habitats?

In a post fire environment, it might be useful to understand where post wildfire stressors (such as erosion and flooding) overlap with the best and or most sensitive aquatic habitats, including that of threatened and endangered species.

Step 1: Habitats may have already been mapped for three anadromous species (coho salmon, Chinook salmon, steelhead).

Go to NetMap Analysis Tools > Maps > Aquatic Habitats > In drop down list, find coho, Chinook and steelhead. Values range from 0 to 1, poor to high quality habitat.

Step 2: Go To NetMap Aquatic Habitat Tools > Create Aquatic Habitats and create the habitat values yourself or to modify the habitat model (preference curves). Follow Tech Help to create new habitat indices or to modify existing published models. Or create your own model.

Step 3: Go to NetMap's Overlap Tool. From the drop down lists, select any portion of the distribution (i.e., top 10% or highest 1%) of the habitat potential (mapped to reaches) and post fire erosion (WEPP); or combine a search for burn severity, erosion risk (shallow failure, debris flow or gully potential) and fish habitat quality.