Forest fire mobilization and uptake of metals by biota temporarily exacerbates impacts of legacy mining

While wildfires are a natural occurrence and ecosystems have evolved with fire, a changing climate is extending the wildfire season increasing the number, size and severity of fires in the western United States. In 2018, wildfire con-sumed 30% more area in the Western United States than the average ten years prior, and 76% more area than the av-erage twenty years ago. These recent wildfires have impacted communities in the southwestern Rocky Mountains. In 2018, the 416 Fire, burned over 21,000 ha of public and private lands in southwestern Colorado. The 416 Fire is uniquely located in a legacy mine region in Colorado. The fire occurred in the Animas River watershed, which was al-ready recovering from impacts of the Gold King Mine release of 2015. Three years of water quality monitoring after the 416 Fire have demonstrated elevated total and dissolved metal concentrations downstream of the burn area in Hermosa Creek and the Animas River. Following high-intensity rainstorm events, concentrations of metals such as alu-minum, cadmium, iron, lead, manganese and zinc were significantly higher compared to pre-fire conditions in the burned watershed, and several metals often exceeded water quality standards for aquatic life. Macroinvertebrate mon-itoring in the Animas River and the main fire-impacted tributary indicate substantially altered insect communities. Macroinvertebrate tissue samples, with high concentrations of aluminum, iron, lead and nickel provide evidence that metals observed in the water column of fire-impacted streams were transferred to the benthic communities. In contrast, algae tissue from below the fire did not have elevated metals. High sediment volumes with absorbed metals from mineral rich and mined hillsides were transported to the streams and their aquatic ecosystems after the fire. Re-sults from this study highlight the post-fire mobilization of naturally occurring metals to streams that already experi-ence elevated metals from legacy mines, and will help in development of mitigation efforts in downstream communities.

Automated summary

On the backdrop of a changing climate, wildfires in the western United States have been increasing in number, size, and severity, causing significant impacts on ecosystems. A recent fire in southwestern Colorado has resulted in elevated metal concentrations in water and altered insect communities, highlighting the post-fire mobilization of naturally occurring metals.