TITLE:
Socio-Economic Impact of the Rapid Response Erosion Database (RRED)
AUTHORS:
Mary Ellen Miller, William S. Breffle, Michael Battaglia, David Banach, Peter R. Robichaud, William J. Elliot, Richard McClusky, Ina Sue Miller, Michael Billmire
KEYWORDS:
Wildfire, Fire Effects, Hydrology, Erosion, GIS, Modelling, Non-Market Values
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.10 No.10,
October
31,
2022
ABSTRACT: Rapid response is critical following natural
disasters like wildfire. Fire, runoff, and erosion risks are highly
heterogeneous in space, creating an urgent need for rapid, spatially-explicit
assessment. In the past, data preparation has been time consuming and
expensive, resulting in extensive losses in values-at-risk (VARs). The Rapid
Response Erosion Database (RRED, http://rred.mtri.org/rred/) allows researchers and
land managers to access properly-formatted spatial model inputs for the Water
Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) anywhere within the continental US and
eventually beyond. Comprehensive support for post-fire hydrological modeling is
provided by allowing users to upload spatial soil burn severity maps, and
within moments download spatial model inputs. The database has been used to help assess and plan
remediation on more than a dozen wildfires in the Western U.S. RRED has already
saved $694,000 between May 2016-December
2018 in administrative costs. In the future, the potential to save time and
money on data preparation can extend beyond wildfire to include tracking
contaminated sediments, agricultural pollution, and construction site erosion.
RRED may also be a useful tool to protect VARs as illustrated by our analysis
of recreation, property values, and clean drinking water.