Bobcat Fire 2020
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USDA FOREST SERVICE FS-2500-8 (2/20) Date of Report: November 12, 2020 Bobcat Fire 2020 Big Santa Anita Canyon PART I - TYPE OF REQUEST A. Type of Report ☒ 1. Funding request for estimated emergency stabilization funds ☐ 2. No Treatment Recommendation B. Type of Action ☒ 1. Initial Request (Best estimate of funds needed to complete eligible stabilization measures) ☐ 2. Interim Request #___ ☐ Updating the initial funding request based on more accurate site data or design analysis PART II - BURNED-AREA DESCRIPTION A. Fire Name: Bobcat B. Fire Number: CA-ANF-003687 C. State: California D. County: Los Angeles E. Region: 05 Pacific Southwest F. Forest: Angeles G. Districts: San Gabriel National Monument, H. Fire Incident Job Code: P5NJ7S20 0501 Los Angeles Gateway I. Date Fire Started: 9/6/2020 J. Date Fire Contained: 92% of 10/13/20 L. Fire Suppression Damages Repaired with Suppression Funds (estimates): 1 | Page USDA FOREST SERVICE FS-2500-8 (2/20) 1. Fireline repaired (miles): Approximately 140 miles of dozer line constructed. Approximately 16 miles of repair completed as of 10/11/2020. 2. Other (identify): M. Watershed Numbers: Table 1: Acres Burned by Watershed HUC # Watershed Name Total Acres Acres % of Burned Watershed Burned 180701050101 Alder Creek 13,092 213 2 180701050103 Upper Big Tujunga Creek 25,366 532 2 180701050302 Santa Anita Wash-Rio Hondo 34,556 11,149 32 180701060201 Devils Canyon 11,021 1,104 10 180701060202 Upper West Fork San Gabriel River 14,097 10,294 73 180701060203 Bear Creek 17,996 14,580 81 180701060204 North Fork San Gabriel River 12,026 384 3 180701060205 Lower West Fork San Gabriel River 11,608 10,824 93 180701060601 Santa Fe Flood Control Basin-San 35,165 4,203 12 Gabriel River 180902061001 Pallett Creek 10,110 6,934 69 180902061002 Big Rock Creek 21,995 9,265 42 180902061101 Upper Little Rock Creek 19,964 11,125 56 180902061102 Lower Little Rock Creek 20,826 7,876 38 180902061103 Brainard Canyon-Little Rock Wash 25,677 2,118 8 180902061601 Indian Bill Canyon 15,423 4,472 29 180902061902 Grandview Canyon 27,139 673 2 180902061903 Lovejoy Springs 25,508 3,105 12 N. Total Acres Burned: Table 2: Total Acres Burned by Ownership ownership acres nfs 99,222 other federal (BLM) 555 state 0 private 14,800 total 114,577 O. Vegetation Types: Montane chaparral, bigcone Douglas-fir forest, canyon live oak woodland, scrub oak shrubland, dry mixed conifer and Jeffery pine forest, and riparian mixed hardwood communities. P. Dominant Soils: The majority of the fire area is made up of very steep slopes and soils with little development due to high natural erosion rates. Shallow and lithic soils dominate especially in the southern 2/3 of the fire area. Rock outcrops are also common. Gravelly loams (15-35% coarse fragments) are the most commonly found soil texture (40%) with gravelly sandy loam (10%) and loam soil textures (10%) as well. Soils are formed mainly from granitic rocks with some metamorphic rocks. The hillslopes above the Juniper Hills area have a thicker soil mantle (haploxerolls) with gravelly loam soil textures (15-35% coarse fragments) with inclusions of shallow-lithic soils on the steeper slopes. The south eastern portion of the Bobcat Fire is dominated by loamy soil textures on very steep slopes with low coarse fragments weathered from granitics. Q. Geologic Types: 2 | Page USDA FOREST SERVICE FS-2500-8 (2/20) The geology is characterized by an array of rock units, generally including: Holocene, Quaternary, and Pleistocene alluvium, Tertiary volcanics and non-marine sediments, crystalline basement rocks comprised of various Mesozoic granitics and gneiss, and Precambrian and Proterozoic gneiss. R. Miles of Stream Channels by Order or Class: Table 3: Miles of Stream Channels by Order or Class Stream Type Miles of Stream Perrenial 182 Intermittent 120 Ephemeral 967 OTHEr (DEFINE) S. Transportation System: Trails: National Forest (miles): 111 Other (miles): Roads: National Forest (miles): 100.7 Other (miles): 22.7 PART III - WATERSHED CONDITION A. Burn Severity (acres): Table 4: Burn Severity Acres by Ownership Soil Burn NFS Other Federal State Private Total % within the Fire Severity (BLM) Perimeter Unburned 14,380 23 0 4,587 16,777 15 Low 38,752 430 0 20,939 49,971 44 Moderate 38,394 102 0 2,725 40,117 35 High 7,695 0 0 20 7,711 7 Total 99,222 555 0 28,271 114,577 100 B. Water-Repellent Soil (acres): 33,661 acres (29% of fire) C. Soil Erosion Hazard Rating: The Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT) was used in place of the Soil Erosion Hazard rating. D. Erosion Potential: Steep slopes, burn severity, and soil properties are drivers of erosion rates in this fire. Unburned erosion rates are less than 1 ton/acre, so the erosion rates modeled in the table below are high. Low to moderate burn severity under conifer forest and some dense oak has potential for needlecast to mitigate erosion response, but moderate burn severity in chaparral will have high erosion potential. Erosion results of select watersheds are shown by pour point table below (see Appendix D of the soil report for erosion rates within all pourpoints). Table 5: Modeled Erosion Rates Pour Point Acres 2-year erosion 5-year erosion rate (tons/acre) rate (tons/acre) Entire Bobcat Fire Perimeter 115,740 15.9 33.5 WF San Gabriel above 25,135 12.1 22.9 Cogswell Dam East Fork Santa Anita Canyon 1,708 22.8 45.1 SAS West Fork San Gabriel 53,441 16.4 29.3 ARTO Little Rock Creek 38,819 7.0 18.8 Trask Camp 1,740 25.2 52.9 3 | Page USDA FOREST SERVICE FS-2500-8 (2/20) Monrovia Canyon Park 3,294 22.2 46.3 Bear Creek trib to WFSGR 18,001 15.8 27.5 Big Santa Anita Canyon RecT 6,180 18.6 37.6 E. Geologic Response Potential: Debris Flows: The USFS Geological Survey (USGS) Landslide Hazards Program assisted the assessment of probability and potential volumes of debris flows in the burned area. Their ongoing research has developed empirical models for forecasting the probability and likely volume of such debris flow events. The USGS models integrates geospatial data related to basin morphometry (hill slope, size), burn severity, soil properties, and rainfall characteristics to estimate the probability and volume of debris flows that may occur in response to a local design storm (Staley, 2016). Estimates of probability, volume, and combined hazard are based upon a design storm with a peak 15-minute rainfall intensity of 12 – 40 millimeters per hour (mm/hr) rate (0.47 – 1.57 inches/hr). An average design storm with a peak 15-minute rainfall intensity of 32 millimeters per hour (mm/h) rate (0.9 inches/hr) was applied to evaluate debris flow potential and volumes for the Bobcat Fire, because this magnitude of storm seems likely to occur in any given year. This intensity storm has about a one-year average reoccurrence interval in the majority of the study area (see Map 2 in Geology Specialist Report for one-year average reoccurrence storm intensities across the burned area) according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (Atlas 14, Volume 6, Version 2). Debris type flows are likely to experience increased susceptibility to debris-flow occurrences in drainages within the areas affected by the Bobcat Fire. Severely burned bedrock areas underlain by granitic and metamorphic rocks have a high potential to produce debris flows (De Graff et al., 2015a and 2015b; Bateman and Krasukopf, 1987). Debris flows require a mixture of water, fine materials (clay, silt, and sand) and at least 50% of the material must be coarse sized particles (gravel, cobbles, boulders); often coarse material predominates. The surficial material within the burned areas (primarily granitics) are comprised of sufficient coarse material to generate debris flows. The southern portion of the burned area (south slope of the San Gabriel Mountains) is particularly susceptible to debris flows for the following reasons: (1) the potential 15-min rain-fall intensity (1 year reoccurrence interval) is very high (See Map 2 in Geology Specialist Report), (2) the slopes are very steep, and (3) the proportion of moderate and high burn severity is high. Rockfall: Rockfall in the form of individual rocks or small groups of rocks have rolled onto roads from the steep slopes within the Bobcat Fire areas. It is recognized that rockfall activity often takes place during and immediately after a wildfire. Post-fire rockfall activity is often driven by thermal expansion and loss of vegetation. Accumulations of small rocks can damage tires and interfere with safe driving. Rocks in motion or large rocks (1-foot diameter or larger) can damage pavement, cause accidents, damage vehicles, and cause injury or death. The Bobcat Fire burned area is very steep. Thus, the rockfall query results for slopes greater than or equal to 40% in moderate to high soil burn severity is dominated by the occurrence of moderate to high soil burn severity. See Map 5 in the Geology Specialists Report for rockfall potential maps. Landslides: There are several mapped landslides within the burned area (Elder and Reichert, 2005). Landslides within burned areas will likely experience renewed movement, or more likely, movement on a part (nested landslides) of the existing feature. The loss of forest vegetation causes a short-term (multi-year) decrease in evapotranspiration which can cause an increase in groundwater levels. This increase in groundwater levels or shallower groundwater can trigger renewed movement on existing, deep-seated landslides.