Changes in landscape will affect some species more than others
By Ann McCreary
Among the approximately 400 animal species that live in and around the Methow Valley, many are well adapted to survive and even thrive in the wake of wildfires that are a natural part of this environment.
But with climate change predicted to create wildfires that are four times as large by the middle of the century, the ability of animals to adapt will be tested, said Bill Gaines, a wildlife ecologist with the Washington Conservation Science Institute.
“We’re going to see changes on the landscape that we’ve never seen before, so it will be interesting to see” how species respond, Gaines said Monday (Feb. 23) during a presentation at the Twisp River Pub.
Gaines talked about the effects of wildfire on animals and the environment as part of a Methow Conservancy course on the Carlton Complex Fire.
Even high-severity fires, which destroy most vegetation, ultimately produce an environment that benefits many species, Gaines said. Historically these fires create open burned spaces surrounded by forests that have burned previously or never burned.
That “mosaic” of forest growth is necessary for animals like the Canada lynx, which “uses a host of different-aged forest,” Gaines said. The lynx likes to hunt around the edges of burned areas, for instance, and will often have kittens under trees brought down by fire.
“High-severity fires produce a big pulse of habitat for snag-dependent species” such as woodpeckers, which feast on insects that live in burned trees, Gaines said.
Mixed-severity wildfires, which result in a combination of younger and older trees and vegetation within the fire perimeter, can benefit species like the northern goshawk and northern spotted owls, “that forage over large landscapes in different forest types,” Gaines said.
Fires that burn in grasslands and shrub-steppe, like the Carlton Complex, may produce a short-term decrease in food supply for animals like deer and elk, but “generally a longer-term increase in food” because fires break down plants into nutrients that are recycled into the soil, boosting fertility for future growth.
Fire benefits lost
Many of the benefits of natural wildfires have been lost as a result of decades of fire suppression and the harvesting of the oldest and largest trees — which are most adapted to withstand fires, Gaines said.
As a result, “we have a whole bunch of forests of medium age that are ready to burn,” he said.
Forest managers have developed forest restoration strategies based on “integrating wildlife habitat with disturbances,” and trying to restore a forest structure that is more like the historical, pre-settlement times, Gaines said.
By evaluating changes to the current landscape, forest managers can determine how it has changed, and through activities like thinning and prescribed burning try to restore it to the more varied landscape that supports wildlife and is less susceptible to fire, Gaines said.
On a smaller scale, private property owners can work to achieve the same goals on forested land they own, said Ken Bevis, who also spoke at the Conservancy class.
Bevis, stewardship wildlife biologist for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, works with private forestland owners to help them manage their lands.
The goal, Bevis said, is to create habitat that is “full of niches” for wildlife. Through thinning trees and clearing vegetation, “we attempt to mimic fire mechanically,” Bevis said.
Forested areas with trees growing close together that create a closed canopy “are not great habitat,” Bevis said. On the other hand, thinning trees so they are widely spaced at uniform distances like a tree farm isn’t great for animals either, he said.
A healthy forest structure that supports wildlife looks “messy,” Bevis said. It includes snags, down logs, shrub patches, open spaces and piles of debris.
“I hear people say, ‘I want to clean up my forest,” Bevis said. He said he wants to respond, “‘Do you need a broom?’”
