Results from this study indicate lower levels of organic matter in burned areas, in both the 0-5 cm and the 5-10 cm depths (Fig. 2). For all measurement periods, at both depths, soil organic matter content was higher in the unburned plots. In the spring of 1997 and 1998, nine and twenty-one months after the fire, respectively, soil organic matter content at both depths was significantly higher in the unburned plots than in the burned plots (P < 0.013 at 0-5 cm for 11/97; P