BAER Team

Shortly after the fire began, the superintendent of Point Reyes National Seashore called in a team of experts from the Department of Interior, the Burn Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) team. This team is composed of multi-agency, multi-disciplined resource specialists that are assembled to assess fire damage, fire suppression effects and prepare mitigation measures. The BAER team was made up of resource specialists with expertise in plants, animals, soils, water resources, cultural resources, structures, roads and trails from agencies including the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Affairs. Although not specifically designated, a major component of the team was GIS related.

The primary task of the BAER team was to produce a report documenting the fire and fire suppression effects on the park and to make recommendations for mitigation and management. The report noted that there were extraordinary changes in the physical, chemical and biological status of park natural resources. Vegetation resources were impacted by varying degrees as burn intensities varied across the landscape, and these burn intensities in turn have the potential to influence the recovery of the ecosystems. Many areas within the fire perimeter were burned at high and severe burn intensities. Approximately 11% of the fire area was impacted by high intensity fire, 19% by moderately intense fire and 70% burned with low intensities. The plant communities within the fire area include marshland, coastal prairie, coastal grasslands, riparian, coastal dune, northern coastal scrub, bishop pine forest, and Douglas fir forest. Each of these communities has associated species that are unique to California and to the world. Within the burn perimeter, many species of plants (23), mammals (8), birds (24), insects (8), amphibians (4), reptiles (2) and fish (4) are sensitive or endemic to the park. Several species have special recognition under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the California Endangered Species Act.