Slope stabilization treatments like mulching are commonly used to reduce runoff and erosion after high severity wildfires. Agricultural straw is the most common material although it is susceptible to be blown away by the wind or introduce non-native plants. Although these limitations do not apply to wood-based mulch, this material has not been widely tested in the field. We compared the efficacy of two types of mulch for reducing soil erosion and evaluated its effects on vegetation recovery during the first two years after wildfire. The treatments were: straw helimuching (3.0–3.5 Mg ha⁻¹), ground-applied wood strand mulching (11 Mg ha⁻¹) and control (no mulch). During the first year after wildfire, the mean sediment yield in the control plots was 11 Mg ha⁻¹. In this period, the respective mean sediment yields in the wood strand mulched plots were significantly lower than in the control plots (1.6 Mg ha⁻¹) but higher than in the straw mulched plots (0.5 Mg ha⁻¹). Soil erosion decreased during the second year after wildfire in all cases, while vegetation cover and soil penetration resistance and soil shear strength increased. Neither of the mulching treatments significantly affected the recovery of vegetation cover or species composition. The results indicate the feasibility of wood strand mulch to effectively reduce soil erosion after the fire, with no detrimental effects on vegetation recovery. However, the amount of material required to ensure the protection of the soil, together with difficulties to be applied, may limit its widespread use as a post-fire soil stabilization option.

诸如覆盖之类的边坡稳定处理通常用于减少高强度野火后的径流和侵蚀。农作物秸秆是最常见的材料，尽管它容易被风吹走或引入非本地植物。尽管这些限制不适用于木质覆盖物，但该材料尚未在该领域进行广泛测试。我们比较了两种覆盖物减少土壤侵蚀的功效，并评估了野火发生后的头两年对覆盖物恢复的影响。处理方法包括：秸秆除草（3.0–3.5 Mg ha ^-1），地面应用的木条覆盖（11 Mg ha ^-1）和对照（不覆盖）。野火发生后的第一年，控制区的平均沉积物产量为11 Mg ha ^-1。在此期间，木条覆盖地的平均沉积物产量明显低于对照地（1.6 Mg ha ^-1），但高于秸秆覆盖地（0.5 Mg ha ^-1））。在所有情况下，野火后第二年的土壤侵蚀均减少，而植被覆盖和土壤渗透阻力和土壤抗剪强度增加。两种覆盖处理均未显着影响植被覆盖或物种组成的恢复。结果表明，用木条覆盖膜可有效减少火灾后的土壤侵蚀，且对植被恢复无不利影响。但是，确保土壤保护所需的材料量以及施加的困难可能会限制其广泛用作火后土壤稳定选项。