Bear Creek: Fire Pollution Prevention Efforts
In the next weeks and months as local communities begin the long process of rebuilding, the Rogue Riverkeeper team will shift our focus to ways we can help minimize harmful impacts of these fires on Bear Creek and the Rogue River.
How do fires impact rivers?
With rains coming, we are most concerned about the potential for toxic materials to wash into Bear Creek and the Rogue. When water flows over burned structures, it can pick up anything that was exposed in the fire, including lead paint, pesticides, plastics, rubber, solvents, and asbestos. These harmful materials then get washed into local rivers and streams, which can be toxic to humans and fish. Runoff from burned trees and grasses can also carry high levels of nutrients, which can lead to harmful algae blooms.
Fires that burned trees and shrubs can leave bare soil behind, which can become unstable during rainy weather causing erosion and increased sediments entering waterways. More sediment in our streams can harm fish, pollute drinking water sources, and smother gravel in streambeds that salmon use for spawning. Additionally, less stable hillsides may increase the likelihood of dangerous mudslides.
What is Rogue Riverkeeper doing to limit harmful impacts to Bear Creek and the Rogue?
In addition to supporting ongoing community efforts to provide direct relief to people displaced by the fires, we are also using our expertise to minimize pollution to our local water resources that provide drinking water and habitat for fish.
Rogue Riverkeeper is coordinating with community partners and local cities in the Rogue Valley to identify ways that we can minimize pollution from burned areas going directly into local waterways.
We are talking to other Waterkeepers, particularly in California and Colorado that have also experienced devastating fires in rural communities.
When it is safe to do so, we will coordinate with our partners to install pollution controls over the upcoming weeks and months. We are currently working to identify smaller streams that may be vulnerable to pollution.
How you can help!
If you’re interested in volunteering to reduce pollution to Bear Creek and the Rogue, please let us know! This is still evolving, but may involve helping to install pollution controls, testing for pollution, or repairing storm drains.