{"id":8094,"date":"2026-02-05T18:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T18:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/ground_post\/fire-effects-from-the-2023-drought-and-extreme-wildfire-season\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T18:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T18:02:15","slug":"fire-effects-from-the-2023-drought-and-extreme-wildfire-season","status":"publish","type":"ground_post","link":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/ground_post\/fire-effects-from-the-2023-drought-and-extreme-wildfire-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Effects from the 2023 Drought and\u00a0Extreme\u00a0Wildfire Season\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

By Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Michigan Tech Research Institute<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our Michigan Tech\u00a0Research Institute\u00a0(MTRI)\u00a0field team of\u00a0five\u00a0arrived in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada,\u00a0on July 27, 2025,\u00a0for a\u00a0nine-day field campaign to sample the effects of the extreme drought and wildfire of 2023 on\u00a0wetlands\u00a0and uplands.\u00a0The region experienced an unprecedented second extreme drought and record-breaking catastrophic wildfire season in just\u00a0nine\u00a0years,\u00a0affecting\u00a0both uplands and wetlands across the landscape.\u00a0We\u00a0are\u00a0particularly focused\u00a0on\u00a0understanding how\u00a0vulnerable\u00a0the carbon-rich bog and fen\u00a0wetlands\u00a0(that is, peatlands)\u00a0are\u00a0to\u00a0wildfire in such extreme conditions.\u00a0The campaign is part of NASA\u2019s\u00a0Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment<\/a>\u00a0(ABoVE). Other\u00a0teams, out in the field in 2024-2025,\u00a0focused\u00a0on\u00a0sampling uplands.\u00a0We want to know how\u00a0severe the burns were, how\u00a0deep the peat\u00a0burned,\u00a0and what is regrowing (i.e.,\u00a0what will the burn sites become after fire); will the dominant black spruce regenerate?\u00a0<\/p>\n

7\/28\/2025\u00a0<\/strong> Yellowknife<\/strong>, Day 1<\/h2>\n

The field was a\u00a0bit smoky. We began our fieldwork by visiting 2023 burned peatland sites near Yellowknife. Extreme\u00a0drought conditions continue\u00a0two\u00a0years after the catastrophic 2023 fire season,\u00a0and wildfires continue to ignite the landscape,\u00a0mainly\u00a0from\u00a0lightning\u00a0strikes.\u00a0We picked up safety supplies,\u00a0equipment,\u00a0and food, including bear mace,\u00a0from\u00a0the field supply store\u00a0Arctic Response.\u00a0(Black bears are the main safety concern in the field.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For some\u00a0of the team, this was a first observation of a burn, and for others, a first observation of a\u00a0peatland\u00a0that burned. We took the day to train on what and how we measure in the field to quantify burn severity and fire effects. On this first day,\u00a0we were testing out the methods and\u00a0determining\u00a0how many plots we should have within sites to capture the variability in the sites. We intend\u00a0to visit as many sites as possible each day\u00a0and\u00a0observe\u00a0them with\u00a0our protocols.\u00a0Given\u00a0the relatively\u00a0short time\u00a0window that we have for the project, it will be a challenge\u00a0to collect field data over four different\u00a02023\u00a0burn scars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the\u00a0principal\u00a0investigator\u00a0of the project, I have been studying fire in boreal landscapes for over 30 years and peatlands for over 15\u00a0years and\u00a0have not seen such severe burning across the landscape before.\u00a0We collected similar data for the 2014 wildfires in NWT, also focusing on the bogs and fens (i.e.,\u00a0peatlands) and how fire affected them. In 2023, just\u00a0nine\u00a0years later, an even more extreme drought and wildfire year occurred,\u00a0and some of our 2014\u00a0burn\u00a0sites were burned again.\u00a0One of my goals for this\u00a0field campaign and the remote sensing study is to train the next generation of scientists to continue the research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For comparison, we\u00a0also\u00a0visited unburned peatland sites near our Yellowknife sites.\u00a0We reached a beautiful intact open fen with deep organic soils.\u00a0Unburned\u00a0peatland sites help\u00a0show\u00a0what\u00a0peatlands would look like pre-fire: we walked\u00a0through cushiony deep peat layers\u00a0instead of crunchy charred soils,\u00a0providing a\u00a0context\u00a0for the destruction\u00a0found\u00a0at\u00a0the burn sites.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, the unburned black spruce in this peatland allowed us to show the team examples of adventitious roots, which develop in the moss as it builds up higher on the tree trunk.\u00a0These roots\u00a0take advantage of the moist moss while the trees are growing. After\u00a0a\u00a0fire,\u00a0we\u00a0use them to measure how deep the moss and organic soil burned down into the organic layers. Regular roots may also be\u00a0measured\u00a0if the burns are deep enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

7\/29\/2025\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yellowknife to Hay River,\u00a0<\/strong>Day 2<\/h2>\n

We began by packing up for a\u00a0five-hour drive\u00a0south\u00a0to Hay River. We needed\u00a0additional\u00a0supplies,\u00a0including food,\u00a0to support long field days.\u00a0We\u00a0spent\u00a0the day capturing data on unburned peatlands along\u00a0our route while\u00a0driving into the\u00a0heavy\u00a0smoke\u00a0from current wildfires south of Yellowknife.\u00a0Firebrands\u00a0(small pieces of burning wood)\u00a0from fires farther from the road torched trees along the roadside.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the unburned sites, we quickly estimated\u00a0the\u00a0percent cover of different mosses.\u00a0Chris Cook is working on mapping the distribution of\u00a0sphagnum and feather moss across the landscape, using data\u00a0from hyperspectral and multispectral optical and infrared imagery.\u00a0Last year, we used an instrument to capture spectral signatures of the different moss types.\u00a0The sphagnum moss holds water\u00a0and\u00a0remains\u00a0wet\u00a0even when the landscape is dry because it\u00a0is able to\u00a0pull water up from deep below; thus, it acts to\u00a0suppress\u00a0wildfire. We see the results in a burn site as sphagnum \u201csheep,\u201d sphagnum that survived the\u00a0fire.\u00a0Feather mosses\u00a0dry out more easily and carry a fire better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We stopped in Fort Providence at the Big River Gas Station right on the MacKenzie River for dinner.\u00a0They had delicious white fish from Great Slave Lake.\u00a0We took a hike down to the river and collected rocks\u00a0before continuing our trip south.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Leaving Fort Providence for Hay River, we saw our only black bear of the trip, munching on shrubs along the road, just before\u00a0we crossed\u00a0the bridge\u00a0over\u00a0the MacKenzie River.\u00a0We were thankful that the bear was not near any of our sampling sites!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

7\/30\/2025\u00a0<\/strong> Hay River,<\/strong>\u00a0Day\u00a03<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0field was smoke-free.\u00a0In the morning, we\u00a0set out to visit\u00a0a\u00a0high burn severity\u00a0upland\u00a0site that was good for comparison with our peatland sites. It\u00a0had been sampled in 2019 by the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) and\u00a0the\u00a0Government of Northwest Territories (GNWT), which are\u00a0collaborating with us. All the trees\u00a0had\u00a0fallen from the deep burning. This upland contrasts with the lowlands and peatlands that we are sampling.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We did a\u00a0lot of climbing up and over fallen trees to get to our predetermined field location.\u00a0Here we harvested the largest cross-section of a tree of the trip.\u00a0The trees in peatlands are typically very small.\u00a0Tree cookies (cross- sections) are used to age the stand and give us an idea of\u00a0the\u00a0number of years since the last wildfire. It was good that we stopped to pick up a bow saw in Yellowknife before heading south, as our folding saws would not have done the job on these\u00a0thick\u00a0trees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the middle of the day, we went to the hotel to wash ash and char from our faces and hands and become presentable. We went\u00a0to meet with elders from\u00a0K\u2019atl\u2019oDeeche\u00a0First Nation (KFN)\u00a0to discuss the changes in climate, extreme\u00a0droughts,\u00a0and wildfires and how they are affecting the overall landscape. We learned a great deal about the 2023 wildfire in Hay River. The\u00a0elders told us of\u00a0high-sustaining winds (60 kilometers per hour) that resulted in large areas being completely consumed,\u00a0which\u00a0reshaped the landscape as they remembered it. The fire blew\u00a0through so quickly that satellites missed it, and\u00a0thus\u00a0the\u00a0initial\u00a0satellite hot spot data showed the\u00a0area as unburned. The\u00a0elders\u00a0asked us to share our results with them. They told us to be sure to drive down to Great Slave Lake and check out their village\u00a0and the lake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next,\u00a0we\u00a0went\u00a0back into the field to collect more data. We\u00a0got\u00a0\u00a0back\u00a0to\u00a0town\u00a0with\u00a090 minutes to spare to get dinner at the hotel restaurant before closing time.\u00a0Successive long\u00a0days in the field are normal for our field crew, taking advantage of the long day lengths in the summer and fitting in as many sites as possible in the\u00a0timeframe\u00a0of the field campaign.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

7\/31\/2025\u00a0<\/strong> Hay River\u00a0to\u00a0Fort Smith,<\/strong> Day 4<\/h2>\n

Another smoky day that required wearing masks in the field.\u00a0We collected data at several sites\u00a0along the\u00a0three-hour drive to\u00a0Fort Smith.\u00a0Some of the shrubby and open fens recover quickly with lots of sprouting shrubs post-burn, and it is at first difficult to see that the site did burn. The soil pits and inspection of root collars,\u00a0tussocks, and trees\u00a0help provide information,\u00a0as well as the\u00a0char and ash\u00a0that we sample.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, we arrived at the Wood Buffalo Inn to stay for\u00a0four\u00a0days.\u00a0The team was happy to be in one place for several\u00a0days, but\u00a0trying to capture so many of the wildfires\u00a0required\u00a0lots of travel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We met researchers also staying at the\u00a0inn, and\u00a0found out they were from Parks Canada\u00a0and also\u00a0studying peatlands, although not wildfire in peatlands.\u00a0\u00a0We exchanged information and\u00a0kept in touch\u00a0in the following days\u00a0and plan to share data.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

8\/1\/2025\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Fort Smith,<\/strong>\u00a0Day\u00a05\u00a0<\/h2>\n

We\u00a0collected data at more peatland and lowland (non-peat) sites.\u00a0\u00a0For this region, our maps of peatland types were\u00a0incomplete,\u00a0so\u00a0we relied on other\u00a0map\u00a0sources. The\u00a0sourced\u00a0map\u00a0proved to be inaccurate as far as peatland\u00a0ecotypes but\u00a0was\u00a0helpful\u00a0at finding permafrost complexes.\u00a0The\u00a0Parks Canada field team told us that they were using the same map source and finding it inaccurate in their fieldwork as well. Thus, we had to rely on some field reconnaissance to\u00a0determine\u00a0site suitability.\u00a0In treed peatlands, the trees are mostly stunted black spruce and often \u2018drunken\u2019 or leaning\u00a0due to the permafrost.\u00a0We looked for those features before heading into sites.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, we met with fire managers from GNWT in Fort Smith to further discuss the wildfires of 2023 and conditions in 2024-2025.\u00a0They are collaborators on our project and\u00a0are\u00a0conducting their own research on wildfires of 2023 and other years to better understand the changing conditions.\u00a0Because of\u00a0climate change, recently burned sites and wetlands are no longer acting as fire breaks, so\u00a0the fire managers are rethinking their strategies to protect communities.\u00a0We\u00a0also\u00a0stopped at Aurora College to drop off information on our project, along with\u00a0stickers and cards and other goodies from NASA for the students.\u00a0We were in the field until\u00a0really late,\u00a0and all the restaurants were closed, so we made a pasta dinner at the inn where we were staying.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

8\/2\/2025\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Fort Smith,<\/strong>\u00a0Day 6\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n

We collected data at more peatland and lowland (non-peat) sites.\u00a0By this point our team\u00a0was getting very efficient at collecting the necessary data.\u00a0Everyone\u00a0was learning about the different soil types and\u00a0as field work progressed,\u00a0coming across new conditions\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0new positions to gain access to the soil pits.\u00a0Dorthea Vander Bilt is using the field data on peat depth and peat concentration by peatland type to estimate carbon storage. These estimates are then\u00a0scaled\u00a0up using our peatland maps to the landscape scale\u00a0carbon storage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We dig a soil pit to\u00a0determine\u00a0the soil horizons present and how deep the peat is.\u00a0We have harvested samples in past years to get carbon concentration by peat depth and ecosystem type (\u00a0bog or fen).\u00a0Often times\u00a0the peat\u00a0is just at 40 centimeters deep, which is how a peatland is defined, and sometimes we hit mineral soil then, or rocks or ice.\u00a0At other\u00a0sites\u00a0the peat is deep,\u00a0measuring\u00a0160 centimeters or\u00a0even\u00a0over 200 centimeters\u00a0before you hit the permafrost\u00a0or\u00a0ice layer. The deepest measurement we had was last\u00a0<\/strong>summer\u00a0in a burned open fen where we probed\u00a0300 cm\u00a0of peat before hitting ice. For this we use the yellow chimney cleaning rods\u00a0that you can see in these field photos\u00a0as peat\u00a0probes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For some of the soil pits,\u00a0we hit ice before 50 centimeters, and there was excitement\u00a0at\u00a0finding permafrost!\u00a0For several\u00a0team members,\u00a0this was their first experience of\u00a0permafrost,\u00a0and everyone took turns touching the smooth ice in our\u00a0soil\u00a0pits.\u00a0Once ice was found, no more digging was\u00a0possible,\u00a0and the pit was\u00a0complete.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rachel Gumpper is\u00a0just\u00a0beginning\u00a0to study\u00a0peatlands,\u00a0and this year she learned how to map wetlands and peatlands from\u00a0the\u00a0multi-date\u00a0radar and optical satellite imagery\u00a0we typically use in our research.\u00a0She will be extending the maps we previously\u00a0created for the Great Slave Lake area to include the fires down by Fort Smith and into Alberta, as well as other areas of 2023 wildfires,\u00a0to capture what the landscape was composed of pre-fire.\u00a0She also worked on applying a burn severity algorithm to Landsat imagery of the peatlands and uplands that tells us how severely the ground and organic layers were burned.\u00a0We developed the algorithm based on 136 wildfires that occurred in 2014. Our field data will help\u00a0validate\u00a0those maps for the 2023 wildfires.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

8\/3\/2025\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Fort Smith to Hay River<\/strong>,\u00a0Day 7<\/h2>\n

We visited\u00a0six\u00a0sites, including\u00a0one upland\u00a0with\u00a0some ash that delighted\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Mary Ellen\u00a0Miller. She\u00a0is currently working with the USDA\u00a0Forest Service to map post-fire ash depth and color. Ash color is\u00a0an\u00a0important\u00a0indicator\u00a0of soil burn severity and consumption,\u00a0with lighter colors\u00a0representing\u00a0higher consumption.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While digging the\u00a0soil\u00a0pit at a site just west of Fort Smith, Dorthea\u00a0Vander Bilt\u00a0discovered\u00a0a treasure trove of buried ash that was over 3 centimeters thick and of a light color,\u00a0indicating\u00a0a high severity burn. We are not sure if the ash was deposited at the site by wind or if\u00a0perhaps our\u00a0peat pit was a localized spot of high severity\u2013likely the\u00a0latter.\u00a0Typically, in the organic layers we see char and singed or consumed moss layers and other ground consumption, but little ash. Ash crops up with each of our steps in the peatlands, but it is otherwise not\u00a0noticeable.\u00a0Ash is more common in the upland sites where organics are not as deep as peatlands, and much of the organics are consumed by fire in uplands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This\u00a0site also\u00a0provided\u00a0an opportunity for getting silly and posing\u00a0cameos\u00a0with a burned tree trunk that looked like a dark shadow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of our last sites near Fort Smith this day was near\u00a0the Salt Flats in Wood Buffalo National Park.\u00a0\u00a0We took a trek down to check them out.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The signage at the pull-off for the salt flat said we should take our shoes off for a foot tactile adventure.\u00a0\u00a0Normally this site is wet and squishy, but\u00a0today it\u00a0was very dry and crunchy on the feet due to the drought conditions for the past 3 years.\u00a0So\u00a0it did not feel\u00a0very good. It\u00a0was pointy and sharp on the feet, but that did not stop us!\u00a0The pull-off for the salt flat had a restroom with running water, and we saw evidence of bears at the structure.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We saw many bison on\u00a0the\u00a0road to Hay River.\u00a0We had learned\u00a0at the park office that\u00a0Wood Buffalo National Park has the largest\u00a0bison herd in the world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

8\/4\/2025\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Hay River to Yellowknife<\/strong>, Day 8\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n

We were mostly out of food, and all the stores were closed because it was a holiday.\u00a0We had\u00a0one\u00a0apple,\u00a0two\u00a0oranges, 20 blueberries, peanut butter,\u00a0carrots,\u00a0and some deli meat,\u00a0which had to suffice.\u00a0We put on our MTU Field Research Team shirts\u00a0this day,\u00a0thinking we would stay\u00a0relatively clean\u00a0given it was a travel\u00a0day,\u00a0and\u00a0could get good photos for our lab manager. We ate breakfast at the hotel and headed towards Fort Providence. We collected data at\u00a0four\u00a0burned peatland sites,\u00a0two\u00a0that we had sampled before the fire in 2022,\u00a0one that had burned in 1996,\u00a0and one new site that we had never been to before. At each site we sampled\u00a0in a 1 meter by\u00a01 meter plot in the corner\u00a0of each 10 meter by 10 meter plot.\u00a0We recorded\u00a0what woody vegetation\u00a0was\u00a0regrowing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

After only\u00a0two\u00a0years and continued drought, there\u00a0were mostly sprouting shrubs.\u00a0Sometimes we were finding jack pine seedlings, birch,\u00a0or\u00a0aspen, but finding black spruce seedlings\u00a0was difficult\u00a0as they are tiny.\u00a0We had\u00a0to comb through\u00a0<\/strong>grasses and other herbaceous and shrubby vegetation to find the tiny seedlings (see photo with black spruce at the tip of the pencil).\u00a0We were\u00a0very excited\u00a0when a site had good roots to measure the depth of the burn.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of the areas north of Fort Providence that were unburned just a week earlier were\u00a0now\u00a0consumed by fire, and we\u00a0observed\u00a0torching black spruce along the road edges.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

8\/5\/2025\u00a0\u00a0 Yellowknife,<\/strong>\u00a0Day 9<\/h2>\n

We spent the morning\u00a0capturing\u00a0two\u00a0more burned sites on the Canadian Shield. Then we had our last field lunch of the trip on\u00a0a\u00a0nice rock outcrop. We went back into town to\u00a0ship\u00a0our\u00a0tree cookies\u00a0back home\u00a0for processing\u00a0by\u00a0counting\u00a0rings,\u00a0to age the stands\u00a0we\u00a0visited.\u00a0We had just\u00a0a short time\u00a0to shop for souvenirs from Old Town, Yellowknife,\u00a0and pay\u00a0a visit to the bush pilot\u2019s monument,\u00a0with a view of Great Slave Lake and all the houseboats, then a final dinner at the\u00a0Flamecraft\u00a0by the water.\u00a0Early the next day we flew out\u00a0to\u00a0Michigan.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n
\n

Earth Science Division Editorial Team<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n