Trigo Fire Monitoring Plan

SCOPE OF SERVICES FOR THE ESTANCIA BASIN WATERSHED HEALTH, RESTORATION, AND MONITORING PROJECT - POST-FIRE MONITORING STUDY In April 2008, a large area of the Estancia Basin watershed was burned in the 13,709-acre Trigo wildfire. This burn area encompassed a large portion of the Cibola National Forest and also included 3,712 acres of private land on its eastern fringe. Fire creates significant impacts to watershed health, which in turn impacts water yield and groundwater recharge. Since three large wildfires (Ojo Peak, Trigo, and Big Spring) have now burned a considerable portion of the eastern slopes of the Manzano Mountains, the impacts of wildfire on Estancia Basin watershed health are likely significant. SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) is currently monitoring the effects of thinning treatments in the area as part of the Estancia Basin Watershed Health, Restoration and Monitoring Project since 2007. That project is overseen by the Estancia Basin Watershed Health, Restoration and Monitoring Steering Committee (Steering Committee), with funding from the New Mexico State Water Trust Board. The Steering Committee recently awarded SWCA additional funding to develop and implement post-fire monitoring to evaluate wildfire impacts to Estancia Basin watershed health. SWCA developed this proposed scope of services, task list, study plan, and budget that will investigate the impacts of wildfire on forest and watershed health, and to enhance our knowledge of forest disturbances and their impacts on hydrology of the Estancia Basin. Of the three major wildfires, Ojo Peak, Trigo, and Big Spring, SWCA has chosen to focus efforts on the Trigo fire. Replicated study sites across watersheds will be more comparable if they are located within an area that burned at about the same time. The Trigo fire also was the largest of the three, it was centrally located within the study region and relative to the existing forest thinning monitoring site, and it burned more watersheds than the other two .