Journal of NACAA

Impacts to Soil Moisture and Nutrients from Winter Wheat Cover Crops as a Post Wildfire Rehabilitation Practice

ISSN 2158-9429

Volume 19, Issue 1 - June 2026

Editor: Bindu Poudel-Ward

Abstract

Wheat producers in the western United States are increasingly dealing with wildfires burning in wheat due to increased crop residue from no till farming practices, additional human ignitions, and extreme fire weather conditions. Wildfire rehabilitation practices have been heavily examined in forested systems, but less so in agricultural production. Wheat cover crops have recently been used in crop fields across the region to reduce soil erosion following severe wildfires. However, little research has examined impacts of wheat cover crops to soil moisture and soil n4484utrients as a post wildfire rehabilitation practice. Therefore, research in 2022 focused on the use of wheat cover crops in a severely burned wheat field. Soil moisture was monitored May through September in a side-by-side comparison between non-burned fallow areas, burned with a post-fire cover crop, and burned without any post-fire vegetative cover. Soil nutrients were also analyzed in soil samples in August. Soil moisture was similar in cover cropped and non-covered areas in the top 6 inches, but was slightly lower from 6-12 inches where a cover crop was planted, and highest in the non-burned fallow areas. Nitrate nitrogen increased in the top 6 inches in areas burned without a cover crop, while other nutrients showed less variability. Soil organic matter was increased by the cover crop, by nearly 0.5%, in the top foot of soil. Using wheat cover crops for post wildfire rehabilitation in crop fields appears to be a good strategy for increasing soil organic matter with minimal impacts to soil moisture, if terminated early.