Schneider Springs BAER (Burned Area Emergency Response)

A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team was recently organized by the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest to begin an assessment of the Schneider Springs Fire burning outside Naches, WA. BAER teams conduct rapid assessments that evaluate post-fire conditions and determine the potential for increased flooding, sediment flows, and rockslides. BAER teams consist of many disciplines including hydrologists, geologists, soil scientists, road engineers, botanists, biologists, and archeologists from both federal and state agencies. The team will first survey the burned area and collect field data. BAER teams use this information to produce a “Soil Burn Severity” map and inform modeling. Determining soil burn severity is the first step in assessing potential watershed impacts to values that may be at-risk following a wildfire. Other science products describing the post-fire situation will follow.  BAER teams then produce a report that describes post-fire conditions along with…