The Missionary Ridge wildfire of 2002 burned more than 70,000 acres near Durango, Colorado.

Representative Project

The Missionary Ridge wildfire of 2002 burned over 70,000 acres near Durango, Colorado. The fire resulted in considerable risk to public health, safety and welfare due to increased runoff and sediment and debris flow potential just upstream of the Lemon Reservoir dam and spillway.

To ward against debris flows, heavy sediment loading, and potentially, failure, the Florida Water Conservancy District (FWCD) hired WWE to design rehabilitation measures that went beyond the norm. The rehabilitation was designed with an unprecedented quantity and complexity of measures and monitoring: Log erosion barriers; check dams; detention basins; debris racks; revegetation; a bypass channel; and FWCD staff training are some of the measures implemented.

When 2.47 inches of rain fell over 13-hours on September 9, 2003, runoff, sediment, and debris from the Knight Canyon watershed during this event were substantially less than from other comparably sized, nearby watersheds that had not received such extensive treatment. Five debris racks were installed along major drainage paths, and as of October 2003, had trapped nearly 200 cubic yards of debris. While typical sediment yield rates following wildfires range from 9 to 49 tons/acre/year, the soil loss rates for the Knight Drainage ranged from 7 to 14 tons/acre/year.

The Missionary Ridge Wildfire Recovery has taught us that, in areas where increased runoff and sediment and debris flow poses great risks, extreme remediation and monitoring measures are suitable and effective for post-fire rehabilitation.

Scope of Services

• Channel stabilization and erosion control
• Watershed assessment 
• Drainage and flood control evaluation
• Hydraulic design
• Revegetation plans
• Debris flow monitoring 
• BMP development
• Hydrologic modeling

Representative Clients

• Florida Water Conservancy District 
• Los Alamos National Laboratory 
• U.S. Department of Energy 
• U.S. Forest Service

Related Articles

Missionary Ridge Wildfire Rehabilitation (482 KB pdf)

Mesa Verde Bircher Fire Hydrological Impact (369 KB pdf)

Los Alamos Post-fire Watershed Recovery: A Curve-number-based Evaluation (193 KB pdf)

Application of the HEC6T Model to Assess Post-fire Channel Remediation Alternatives (141 KB pdf)

Florida Water Conservancy District Superintendent, John Ey, in front of one of the debris racks.