The recent Valley Fire caused massive devastation to homes in the communities of Hidden Valley, Cobb and Middletown. More than 1,100 homes were lost and thousands of families had their lives disrupted. The big question is what happened to the wildlife in the path of that firestorm? Did all of these animals die or were many able to escape the flames? According the University of California scientist Greg Giusti, wild animals have been dealing with wildfires for tens of thousands of years and they have learned how to cope with them and use the fires to their advantage. Actually, wildland fires are often good for wildlife because they remove old brush and create new feeding areas. Giusti said that within a few weeks of a fire new sprouts of nutritious plants emerge and offer an abundance of feed for deer, elk and other plant-eating critters. The larger animals such as elk and deer normally move out of the area before the fire hits and they will survive. Wild animals have the ability to sense these catastrophic events as they are occurring. For example, in 1982 a huge wildland fire swept Cow Mountain. It burned more than 20,000 acres and the fire was reported to have traveled at speeds of more than 40 mph. After the fire I toured the burned area with Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) biologists and we found only a few deer caresses. The main deer population had fled to safer ground. Even reptiles such as snakes know in advance that a fire or a flood is about to hit and will seek holes or higher ground for shelter. According to Giusti, most California native vertebrates have evolved with the presence of fire. Late-season fires, such as those experienced this year in Lake County, ignited after the nesting season thereby sparing nests, nestlings and fledglings. Most birds in late summer and early fall fires can simply leave the area. Foraging may be affected in heavily burned areas as the prey base for insect-eating birds are impacted. The following years may inhibit foraging by some species until the arthropod communities rebuild. Owls and other sight predators can utilize the heavily burned areas for foraging as prey becomes exposed. As trees begin to decline and deteriorate woodpeckers will exploit the standing trees to excavate nesting cavities that can be used by secondary cavity nesters e.g. swallows, Bewick wrens, bluebirds and others. Giusti said species that naturally seek shelter underground such a deer mice, ground squirrels (including chipmunks), fence lizards (blue-bellied lizards) and alligator lizards generally survive. Rodents such as tree squirrels and dusky-footed woodrats that retreat to their wooden nests tend to fare poorly particularly in fast-moving blazes such as the Valley Fire. Large mammals such as deer, bear, coyote, fox can often stay ahead of the flames. Slower moving meso-carnivores such as raccoons, skunks and opossums do the best they can to escape the flames but undoubtedly some perish. Species such as deer and elk will exploit the new growth in the coming spring.
Amphibians, such as tree frogs, are at risk from fire. However, those species which spend the summer below ground such as western toads, salamanders and newts may be safe from the flames, however, loss of prey can be problematic when they emerge following the rains. Sediment-choked streams can impair breeding success in those species that seek water for reproduction (red-bellied newts and toads). Giusti said that wildfires such as the three large fires that occurred in the south county (Valley, Rocky and Jerusalem) did not burn the landscape completely but burned in a mosaic pattern, which left large areas unburned and created islands in the forest. These areas will provide havens for wildlife. “There is no doubt that some individual animals were killed in the fires but in ecological terms their populations will continue and survive. The surviving animals will exploit the habitat as it becomes available over time,” Giusti said.
