Nature Communications (Apr 2018)

Burned forests impact water supplies

  • Dennis W. Hallema,
  • Ge Sun,
  • Peter V. Caldwell,
  • Steven P. Norman,
  • Erika C. Cohen,
  • Yongqiang Liu,
  • Kevin D. Bladon,
  • Steven G. McNulty

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03735-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Wildland fire seasons in the United States are getting longer, yet the impacts of fire on water availability at the regional scale are unclear. Here the authors show that fire increased annual river flow throughout the West, while prescribed burns in the subtropical Southeast had limited impact on river flow.