The U.S. Forest Service has released the results of the investigation of the Yellow Lake Fire that started September 28th and burned 33,173 acres this fall. The following statement has been released by the Forest Service: “An investigation conducted by the United States Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations concluded the Yellow Lake Fire was accidentally caused by equipment use associated with a timber sale on the Heber-Kamas Ranger District of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.” The Yellow Lake Fire Burned Area Response (BAER) report assessed impacts of the Yellow Lake Fire on the soil within the burned area. The soil burn severity map, created using remote sensing imagery and field data, identified approximately 86% of the 33,173-acre burned area exhibits low or very low soil burn severity while 14% of the area experienced moderate damage, and less than 1% suffered high severity burns. The announcement states that the BAER team will use this information to predict post-fire runoff, erosion, and sedimentation. Areas with moderate to high soil burn severity may experience increased runoff and erosion, particularly during heavy rainfall events.
