The BAER Team
Incident: Castle Rock Wildland Fire
Released: 9/4/2007
BAER (pronounced 'bear') Teams are formed after major fires to assess damage caused by the fire and to implement a rehabilitation plan that will prevent loss of life and property and reduce further natural resource damage. In a nutshell, they survey and implement a plan to accomplish erosion control.
BAER Teams are composed of highly skilled wildlife biologists, archaeologists, soils scientists, landscape architects, geologists, ecologists, engineers, foresters, botanists, GIS and GPS specialists and other disciplines from all over the nation.
After a fire, some or all of the ground cover (called 'duff'...needles, decomposed wood and leaves) will be burned away, exposing the soil to the direct impact of rain. In addition, and depending on the severity of the fire ('high' being the worst, see below), the soil itself may become somewhat 'hydrophobic'...that is, it will repel water, rather than absorbing it. These conditions can set the stage for soil erosion when rain occurs.
Also, keep in mind that a forest fire typically doesn't burn at the same intensity everywhere...depending on terrain and fuels. Usually, fire severity will be classified as low, moderate, or high. Generally, high intensity burned areas have priority for treatment, as they tend to be more hydrophobic, have the least duff and have the greatest potential for erosion.
