According to a study at North Carolina State University, Using Fire to Improve Wildlife Habitat (www.ces.ncsu.edu/) fires do not usually kill a large percentage of the animal population. “Slow-moving turtles and snakes, can be killed during a wildfire or prescribed burn. However, many turtles survive fires by burrowing underground or using their shells to protect themselves. Nestlings or young birds are most vulnerable to fires.”
The report also states that, “Deer, foxes, and bobcats run; birds and bats fly; and mice, lizards, snakes, and salamanders go underground into burrows or under rocks and fallen logs as a fire approaches. In a Greenspace, Environmental News From California and Beyond article in the Los Angeles Times, (“Angeles National Forest fire takes toll on wildlife,” Sept. 1, 2009) California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Capt. Nick Shawkey stated that “the majority of animals die from superheated gases that precede the fire front. Their respiratory systems get knocked out. Essentially, they suffocate." Both statements could be true, depending on the kind of fire and the amount of heat that the fire generates. That is why our various government forest services and fire departments have evolved a body of knowledge and practice procedures.
Can Fires be Managed to Help Preserve Wild Creatures?
Controlled burns are not a modern invention. North American forests were tended by humans before European settlers arrived. Earlier humans on the continent used to gather old brush and dead wood and burn the piles of refuse at the time of the first snow. This is why Europeans found huge, lush old-growth forests when they first wrote in their journals about what they found in the “new land.” It had been taken care of for many, many years before they got there. The argument that fires started by lightening burned until they ran out of fuel may have been true before humans learned how to control fire, but that was a time long ago. Humans and wildlife have been dealing with fire together since prehistory.
Forest Agencies have generally taken a “hands off” position toward wild animal intervention during fires, with the rationale that human interference can easily be based on incomplete knowledge of the ecosystems involved. For instance; if we feed the deer after a wildfire, will this create a problem with other wildlife in the area? Or, will it interfere with domesticated animals in nearby areas? There are many factors to consider.
Nature is indeed remarkable in healing itself, in spite of unnatural acts, such as arson. Much study and observation of wildlife has taken place in the past hundred years, and many historical documents have been gathered and researched since it was realized that in modern times wildlife was being left out of the human equation.
As an example of such studies, in a presentation given at the 63rdNorth American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in 1998, it was stated that there are some species, such as “northern bobwhite [Colinus virginianus],red-cockaded woodpecker [Picoides borealis],Bachman’s sparrow [Aimophifa aestivulis], fox squirrel [Sciurus niger] and gopher tortoise [Gopherus pofyphemus] that are undergoing severe population declines as a result, in part, from fire being eliminated or greatly reduced across the southern forest landscape.” The detail of this report in support of controlled burns and more extensive human management of wildlife illustrates that there is much knowledge to consider in wildlife management.
For more information there are many websites concerning wildlife management and controlled burns. To read more about the wisdom of using controlled burns,”Controlled Burns, are They Worth It?“ written by The Nature Conservancy's director of fire management, Blaine Heumann, is available at the Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com). Other information that distinguishes chaparral fires from forest fires can be found at www.californiachaparral.com/.
How Can We Help the Wildlife?
In a democratic society, where everyone can vote on a bill or has a voice on all public issues, how does one individual know enough to help the wild creatures after a fire? To go against public policies would require extensive study and experience. But there are ways to help the wild creatures that have survived a forest fire or other catastrophe. Large organizations, which invest much time and expertise in wildlife conservation can guide each of us as stewards of the wild land that is still around us.
Many animals will survive and find food and shelter in the pockets of land that were missed in the destruction. In the 2009 Station Fire, which started in La Canada-Flintridge, the fire spread to over one quarter of the entire Angeles National Forest. This left three quarters of the forest for the displaced animals to find new food and shelter. This is a territorial hardship on the remaining forest wildlife that the fire missed. In time, it will regain balance.
Those who want to help the creatures that were immediately impacted heal from the loss, can donate time or money to the Humane Society, SPCA, or perhaps there is a small local group that helps individual creatures in your local area. To help with preservation of wildlife before and after a fire or other disaster contact one of the larger conservation or wildlife organizations, such as the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, the Wilderness Society, or the Center for Biological Diversity.
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