RAPID: Unraveling rates of wind erosion and potential dust emission post Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas

This project will characterize properties of burned surface soils along a gradient of grazing intensity and conduct temporal monitoring of wind erosion rates and dust emission after the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle region. This wildfire is the largest fire ever recorded in the state’s history and burned more than 1 million acres. Previous research has shown that wildfires can trigger significant rates of soil erosion. This research project responds to the urgent need to capture the first flush of eroded materials. Erosion, redistribution, and deposition of soil resources are intimately connected to landscape recovery. Collaboration and partnership with federal agencies, including the USDA and NRCS, will aid in designing long-term management of these rangelands in the region. The project will provide training opportunity to two undergraduate students at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Rangelands in arid and semi-arid regions are susceptible to enhanced rates of aeolian erosion following a wildfire. However, the impacts of wildfire extend beyond wind erosion and dust emission as vegetation recovery in these rangelands could be dependent on history of land-use and antecedent vegetation type. The project will quantify the rates of wind erosion and dust emission in rangelands (grassland, shrubland, grazed vs ungrazed sites as treatments) affected by the fire. The data will be collected with sediment samplers and a portable wind erosion simulator. This information could lead to advances in our fundamental scientific understanding of the impact of wildfire on the rate of wind erosion from sites with different vegetation types and grazing intensity and determine the recovery trajectory of these landscapes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.