Eyerly fire restoration continues

A restoration crew downs a tree for use as an erosion barrier. Photo by Mike Riehle

Although an unusually dry fall kept firefighters looking uneasily over their shoulders, the Forest Service was still able to move ahead with rehabilitation projects to begin mitigating damage from one of the area's more serious wildfires.

The Eyerly fire north of Sisters is one of the burns in the Sisters Ranger District to receive early attention.

Already the focus of an emergency reseeding project, the Eyerly burn had winter wheat and rye grass seeds sown from helicopters last month.

The purpose of the aerial seeding was to reduce the potential for erosion on the denuded slopes. However, that's only part of the equation, and the reclamation work didn't stop there.

Recently crews went into some of the more severely burned areas with the goal of further reducing the potential for erosion.

Mike Riehle, Forest Service fisheries biologist for the Sisters Ranger District, described additional soil conservation measures being used in the Eyerly burn. Among the steps taken was the creation of "log erosion barriers" on the slopes of the burn area.

"We directionally fall dead trees so they're perpendicular to the slope in full contact with the ground," Riehle said.

"When soil is eroded, the downed trees act as sediment traps. It's called contour falling, and we do it on steeper areas that have 25 to 55 percent slopes."

He explained that the process is limited to specified slopes because the effects of erosion are not as severe on flatter areas, and slopes over 55 percent tend to be rocky and less susceptible to the more serious effects of erosion.

Riehle said that the trees felled are generally in the pole-sized range. Larger trees and small stuff are most often left alone.

"There are lots of trees left standing," he said. "We put the barriers within about 40 feet of each other, and they overlap like shingles on a roof.

"That way," he said, "water flows off the ends of the logs and won't concentrate in one spot."

The Forest Service is also taking advantage of study opportunities for the area.

Shelley Moore is a graduate student from Portland State University who approached the Forest Service about examining the effects of erosion in burned-over areas.

"She came to us and wanted to do some plots on measuring erosion on slopes of different burn intensities," Riehle said. "We decided to team up with her and added to her study the monitoring of erosion rates where we're doing different treatments."

That way, Riehle and the Forest Service hope to learn more about the success of the various mitigation efforts that are being employed in the wake of this year's fires.

When asked why a fisheries biologist was working on an erosion mitigation plan up on the hillsides, Riehle laughed and said, "We don't have a soils scientist in this district, so I'm working with a hydrologist on this project.

Actually," he added, "we are worried about erosion into Street Creek, which is good habitat for redband trout, and there are also some bull trout in it."

The redband trout is a Forest Service-listed "sensitive species." Riehle said that "the classification does not mean the fish are endangered, but they are a 'species of concern' that we want to keep closer tabs on so they won't become endangered."

Riehle said that, whenever possible, the Forest Service tries to partner with other scientists and agencies to achieve the best results for the area's lands and resources.