From the text ... 'The quantitative effects of the reduction in soil-water loss by evapotranspiration vary under different physiographic conditions, intensities or vegetation removal or deadening, and the kind of vegetation removed. Intense wildfire can destroy all foliar vegetation and would be expected to have the greatest impact on the autumnal soil-water deficit of any land use treatment for a particular physiographic condition.'From the Results and Discussion ... 'We conclude that fire which removes all foliar vegetation does have an important impact on the minimum autumnal soil-water content. Higher autumnal soil-water contents caused by wildfire which reduces the evapotranspiration demand appear to make watersheds more hydrologically sensitive. The watershed buffering capacity provided by the soil mantle for unusually large precipitation events during the winter and spring months has been reduced, and streamflow becomes more responsive to precipitation input. Mass soil movement on fire-affected steep moutain slopes could also be accelerated.'