• Rocky Mountain Research Station
• 240 West Prospect
• Fort Collins, CO 80526
• (970) 498-1100

ERMiT - Erosion Risk Management Tool

To address this shortfall scientists with the RMRS Moscow Forestry Sciences Laboratory initiated major studies to: 1) measure soil erosion rates following wildfire; and 2) develop ways to incorporate location variability into predicting soil erosion efficacy and control.

These efforts helped Station researchers and cooperators from the Agricultural Research Service develop an online program called the Erosion Risk Management Tool, or ERMiT, that predicts postfire erosion. ERMiT not only incorporates variability into predicting erosion, but also allows users to estimate the effectiveness of seeding, applying mulch, and installing logs on hillslopes.

Risk-based soil erosion modeling is on the cutting edge of erosion prediction, and has been quickly embraced by public land managers. Over 200 public and private specialists have been trained to apply the ERMiT technology in workshops sponsored by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. In 2006, the ERMiT model was run over 2,000 times, including real-time use on actual fires. In the first three weeks of August alone, users from 9 different states on at least 20 fires used ERMiT to support over 150 wildfire impact analyses.

More information is available in "Predicting Postfire Erosion and Mitigation Effectiveness with a Web-based Probabilistic Erosion Model", accepted for publication in CATENA, or on the web at ERMiT.