Wildlife and the Role of Prescribed Fire
Prescribed Fires Keep Natural Areas Healthy
Wildland fire managers use prescribed fires as a way to protect habitat. This may seem counterintuitive, but prescribed fires serve several important functions; they reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires by limiting fuel, restore important habitat and help maintain habitat that is currently healthy. Fire management staff initiate controlled fires in fire dependent habitats that are made up of plants and wildlife that have developed adaptations to a regular and natural fire cycle.
But What Happens with Wildlife?
Fire managers carefully choose when they burn based on weather and current conditions of the vegetation and as a result many prescribed fires are low intensity and slower moving, giving wildlife a chance to find safety, either by leaving the area, or finding shelter. Some species use burrows to avoid the flame front which passes quickly in grasslands, others take refuge in trees while the fire passes far below burning off the low ground cover and forest litter. Often, prescribed fire managers will plan ahead to provide wildlife openings along the fire’s edge which allow animals to safely reach cover.
What Are Some Unique Ways Wildlife React?
Each species of plant or animal in these fire adapted landscapes has developed a unique response to wildland fire. In prairies, fire is used to remove unwanted brush species that crowd out the native grasslands. Many raptors like the Barn owl (Tyto alba) will hunt the flaming front in search of prey, while the White-tailed hawk (Geranoaetus albicaudatus) is known to fly up to 50 miles to scavenge for food associated with a fire.
Large flocks of Whooping cranes (Grus americana) congregate on recently burned coastal savannas to forage for oak acorns and other foods made accessible by the prescribed fire, as you can see in this photo from Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
While the short term effects of the fire may temporarily displace wildlife, on the whole, wildlife and habitats benefit from fire’s return to the land.
