Remediation Strategies for Mitigating Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Consequences of Wildfires

Wildfires can be natural or anthropogenic occurrences with immediate and long-term effects on ecosystems, human health, hydrology, hydrogeology, and slope stability. Wildfire events are becoming more frequent due to climate change and human activity. Covering vast areas of land, ranging in frequency, intensity and severity, and duration, fires influence soil and vegetation’s physical, chemical, and biological processes. The long-term effects of widespread wildfires on soil processes are often unknown. Fires cause soil to become hydrophobic (lacking the ability to infiltrate water) and leave ash litter. Burned soil can also lose nutrients, which, along with lowered infiltration, can slow down revegetation. The run-off and loss of vegetation can lead to soil erosion, leaving a magnitude of aftereffects that can affect water and air quality, slope stability, and even human health. Methods suitable to treat, restore, and remediate burned soils depend on the fire’s severity and the ecosystem’s conditions pre- and post-fire. There has yet to be a one-size-fits-all solution to managing the aftereffects of wildfires because there are critical knowledge gaps on impacts on soils, the more significant ecological ramifications, and our ability to manage or remediate these impacts. This paper presents an overview of previous studies on remediating wildfire-impacted soils to better understand the impacts of post-fire management practices on ecosystems with differing characteristics. Still, there needs to be more guidelines about the effectiveness and feasibility of these remediation strategies.