LAKE COUNTY — The recent 8,000-acre Wye Fire that started on Aug. 12 along Highway 20 raised some concern about the impact on wildlife.
The area that burned has a resident tule elk herd as well as deer and other wildlife.
According to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) warden Loren Freeman, there were no reports of any elk or other wildlife being harmed by the fire. He said most of the elk and deer moved out of the area when the fire first started and many have already returned. He said that he saw a herd of elk grazing in the burned area Monday.
According to University of California scientist Greg Giusti, wildlife has no problem dealing with wildfires. “Wildfires in Lake County have been common for thousands of years and long ago wildlife learned to cope with them,” Giusti said. “In fact, wildfires are good for wildlife because they kill old plants and create new growth which supplies food for creatures such as deer and elk.” Giusti said much of the area where the Wye fire burned was old chemise brush which had little nutritional value for wildlife. He said by next spring the area will be a virtual smorgasbord of new feed for the wildlife.
Wildlife biologist Robert Timm Ph.D heads up the University of California”s Hopland Field Station.
The 5,000 acre field station does experimental studies on wildlife. He said a few years ago small rodents were placed in cages and buried several inches underground in an area where they did control burning. The fire passed over the rodents and they all survived. According to Timm, the larger mammals such as deer will move out of an area ahead of the fire and very few get trapped in the blaze. Smaller animals such as snakes, rodents and lizards will find burrows and ride out the fire. He said a few will get trapped and perish but overall they survive very well. According to Timm the one exception is nesting birds. If a fire occurs during the spring months when birds are nesting the young birds will have a high mortality rate. However, since most wildfires occur during the dry summer and fall months the young birds can fly and they will escape the fires.
A detailed study done by Department of Fish and Game after the 1981 Cow Mountain wildfire turned up very few carcasses of deer and other large animals. The fire did kill some smaller animals such as rabbits, squirrels and snakes but the mortality rate was considered insignificant.
