FIRE EFFECTS GUIDE - National Wildfire Coordinating Group

heliports, vehicular traffic, and hand construction of firelines can impact
cultural values. Postfire erosion control measures such as mechanical
seedings, contour trenching and furrowing, and construction of
sediment traps are restoration activities that pose significant threats to
archaeological sites.
4. Erosion and Looting. Loss of ground cover normally leads to greatly
enhanced visibility. In many regions of the West, wildfires have long
been noted for their propensity to expose sites previously difficult to
find; consequently large numbers of people can be found cleaning the
surface of diagnostic tools and excavating sites where archaeologically
rich deposits are discovered following fires. Similar behavior has been
noted of fire crews who had not previously been advised of the
significance of such activities (Traylor 1981). This is of increasing
concern, as the illegal collection and excavation of archaeological
materials has escalated during the past 30 years. The water holding
capabilities of litter, duff and surface soils are also reduced by fire,
which sometimes generates erosion hazards.
C. Resource Management Considerations
The preceding sections briefly describe a diverse array of impacts that
fire and associated fire management activities pose for cultural resource
values. However, many of the heating effects only occur at significantly
high temperatures and many associated on-the-ground activities can be
planned ahead of time. Consequently, the fire process can be managed
to minimize harmful effects and serve as a useful tool in managing
cultural resources.
1. Fire Planning. The most effective means of addressing fire effects is
through development of a management plan that takes the above
concerns into account. (See Anderson 1985.) Various facets of the land
management planning process may be used. The cultural information
may be provided in a prescribed fire plan, a wilderness management
plan, a general resource management plan, or, for areas that are of
particularly high cultural resource values, a cultural resource
management plan. All agency cultural resource management plans
should include a section on the effects of fire suppression. Regardless
of the type of plan employed, it should provide information about the
number, type and distribution of cultural resources, known or predicted
to occur, in a proposed project area (Pilles 1982, p. 8.) and how
susceptible these resources are to impacts from fire. Are there