Burned Watersheds Map

The USGS is monitoring streamflow and water-quality in burned watersheds across the western U.S. These sites were selected based on a number of criteria, including availability of pre-wildfire data and the ability to install equipment that can measure water quality at high temporal resolution, in watersheds with a minimum percent burned and a lack of major water management, in order to best identify drivers of wildfire impacts on water quality. Water-quality data collection is focused on parameters that are critical to human and (or) ecosystem health, relevant to water-treatment processes and drinking-water quality, and (or) inform the role of precipitation and discharge on flow paths. The protocol is described in Murphy et al., 2023. (map by Rachel Sleeter, USGS).