Final Project: 2009 Station Fire Environment and Population Effects

For this final lab, I chose to analyze the environmental and population effects of the 2009 Station Fire. There was a wide range of complications, issues and disastrous effects of this fire due to its location and the topography of the area. My title map shows the extent of the fire over a period of five days, reaching its max extent on September 2^nd, 2009, covering 160,557 acres of national forest land. The map also displays the Angeles National Forest in relation to Los Angeles County and the perimeter of the fire over the five days.

My theme map covers multiple impact areas of the 2009 station fire. The first I would like to discuss is the Altadena Foothills and Arroyos Significant Ecological Area. This area possesses diverse biotic resources that are valuable to preserve and maintain as a part of the Los Angeles County’s general plan (1). As you can see, the fire extended into this area, consuming almost 50% of its mass. In addition to this, the rivers and creeks of the area also carried debris and pollution into the surrounding areas causing damage to its ecosystem (this will be discussed further in the next map, including DEM data). 

In addition to destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of land, the fire also claimed 89 residences. The housing unit population can be seen at the southwest corner of the fire extent. It managed to cover one of the more densely populated areas before firefighters were able to control the flames (2).

One location that was put in jeopardy is an extremely valuable site to UCLA. The Mount Wilson Observatory, owned by UCLA, is a 150-foot solar tower that takes daily magnetic field measurements of the sun’s surface. The fire reached dangerously close to this location, but due to good weather conditions and firefighter’s efforts, this extremely important and expensive landmark was saved (3).

-                The firefighters faced many issues when attempting to contain the fire and preserve the locations discussed above. One of the major obstacles they faced was the topography of this area. “Due to the steepness of the topography, this area is very susceptible to extreme fire behavior. The steep slopes and deep drainages promote significant preheating of fuels which can lead to rapid upslope and upvalley fire spread” (4). The steepness of these slopes range from 33 to 67 percent (5). This map also displays the rivers that carried debris throughout the park. The heat, fire retardant and debris killed many of the fish in this ecosystem as well. Research is still being conducted on the range of damage the fire did to the river's fish and other lifesystems. 

This 3D map of the range covered by the fire depicts the steep terrain firefighters had to deal with. The sediment debris from the slopes into the channels below increases risk for wildfires (6). This terrain was coupled with the extremely dry conditions, "less than 30% of normal"rainfall. 

                                          http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/talite1002-1.pdf

Resources:

1) Franchino, Nick. "Los Angeles County GIS Portal." June 6, 2011. 

<http://egis3.lacounty.gov/dataportal/index.php/2011/12/12/significant-ecological-areas-sea-proposed/ Wilson Observatory>

2) Thompson, Richard, et al. "The Station Fire: An Example of Large Wildfire in the Absence of Significant Winds."  <http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/talite1002-1.pdf>

3) Steinberg, Harriet. "2009 Los Angeles Wildfires Concern Mount Wilson Observatory Astronomer."  September 3, 2009. <http://voices.yahoo.com/2009-los-angeles-wildfires-concern-mount-wilson-observatory-4183349.html>

4) United States Department of Agriculture. "Fire and Aviation Management: Station Fire Initial Attack Review." November 13, 2009. < http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/station_fire_report.pdf>

5) Randal, Archibold. "After a Devastating Fire, an Intense Study of Its Effects."THe New York Times. October 2, 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/science/earth/03fire.html?pagewanted=all>

6) Lamb, Michael, et. al. "A Model for Fire-Induced Sediment Yield by Dry Ravel in Steep Landscapes." Journal of Geophysical Research. September 8, 2009. <http://smtp.joelscheingross.com/papers/Lamb_et_al_2011_JGR_ES.pdf>

Census Data Graphs

 The Total Black Alone Population shows distinct trends in dispersion of black individuals across the United States. Central and Southern California support a large number of African Americans, but the population count is quickly cut off outside the state’s borders. Most of the mid-west and northern United States are populated by very few African Americans. The south, south-east and north-east are home to the majority of American Americans in the United States. This map is interesting and useful because of its obvious representation made possible by GIS’s attention to detail. When fewer subdivisions of population measures were used, the trend was not clearly defined. Thanks to the customization available on the program, I was able to make a coherent map that provides useful information.

The Total Asian Alone Percentage map shows the percentage of Asians in a county in comparison to the total county population. One can see that Asians are clustered on the coastal cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Miami. It seems as though they have then spread throughout the rest of the states from those three main points. One could use this map to further investigate immigration trends of Asians throughout history. It would be useful to compare this map to the Total Asian Alone Population map to see if the percentages are accurate representations of Asian migration or just a reflection of limited or excessive county population.  

I have interpreted this map to express the diversity of individuals within a county in regards to those other than white, black and Asian decent. The percentage creates a gradient from west to east, with the highest percentage of “some other race” in the former and the lowest percentage in the latter. It would be useful to pair this map with an immigration levels map or a population density map in order to better grasp why the percentage breakdown is as such. GIS was again helpful in creating this graphic by providing enough customizability so this trend could accurately be displayed. When fewer levels of percentage breakdowns were chosen this distinct pattern was not visible.

CONCLUSION 

This series of maps were helpful because they raised a series of questions that may have been ignored if this information was not available.  GIS’s customizability and attention to detail were huge factors in being able to generate these images. With further effort I would be able to pair these graphs with other ones, add more information, titles and scenarios and eventually provide the answers to the questions. For example, I could create an Asian immigration rate map that goes along with the Total Asian Alone Percentage map to describe why they have mainly congregated along three coastal cities.

This was the first lab in which I felt as if I was left alone with the steps and procedures to customize the map. At first I was skeptical, but GIS proved to be a very rational and easy-to-use program. Everything I wished to do was easily accessible and things played out smoothly. 

Spatial Analaysis

The area I am examining is the southernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. The valley shown is the outskirt of Bakersfield. The extent in decimal degrees is North 35.5889, East -117.9878, South 35.1067, and West -118.8867. The Global Coordinating System is North American 1983.