Evaluating the occurrence and spatial patterns of soil water repellency in the Deschutes National Forest, Oregon

High levels of soil water repellency (SWR) can hinder water infiltration and increase surface soil erosion risk and runoff. Although SWR occurs naturally in many areas, it is often patchy and does not impede water movement. However, fire can increase the connectedness and extent of SWR leading to topsoil loss, nutrient limitations, increased root water stress, and ultimately slower ecosystem recovery. This study examines the naturally hydrophobic soils of Oregon's Deschutes National Forest following the 2020 Green Ridge Fire to (1) examine the relationship between SWR and management‐relevant burn severity classes, (2) quantify an appropriate spatial scale over which to evaluate SWR properties, and (3) determine which environmental factors drive patterns in SWR. We found that the top 1–3 cm of soil became less hydrophobic after fire, while the profile to about 10 cm became more uniformly hydrophobic. This could indicate that surface soil is more prone to post‐fire erosion in burned areas. However, predicting SWR is still challenging. While burn severity and environmental metrics did statistically account for some variation in SWR following fire, the range of SWR spatial autocorrelation was at best a few meters. Due to this fine‐scale variation, future work should focus on determining an efficient post‐fire soil evaluation protocol with adequate density and scale of sampling while also incorporating the influence of environmental factors to inform management decisions. Core Ideas Naturally occurring hydrophobicity complicates predicting post‐fire hydrology. Fire increased the homogeneity of water repellency in only some burn severities. Variability makes predicting hydrophobicity or scaling up incredibly difficult. The top 1–3 cm of soil across all burn severities may have highest erosion risk.