What happens to wildlife during a wildfire?

Austin Amestoy: Welcome to the Big Why, a series from Montana Public Radio where we find out what we can discover together. I’m your host, Austin Amestoy. This is a show about listener-powered reporting. We’ll answer your questions — large or small — about anything under the Big Sky. By Montanans for Montana, this is The Big Why.

Reporter Edward O'Brien is back with us today. Always delighted to see you, Ed.

Edward O'Brien It is a privilege to be here, Austin. Thank you.

Austin Amestoy The timing of this week's question is fitting, given, fingers crossed, we may be nearing the final stretch of this year's fire season.

Edward O'Brien We can only hope, yes.

Our listener asks, how come we don't get any statistics on wildlife that die in wildfires?

Austin Amestoy Yeah, that's that's a great question.

Edward O'Brien Philip Higuera is a professor of fire ecology at the University of Montana in Missoula. Higuera says even the word "wildfire" conjures dramatic images in our collective mind's eye.

Philip Higuera Often that image is of a wall of flames that is very scary and is moving very fast.

Edward O'Brien Many of our listeners will recall a remarkable photograph of two elk standing in the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. They appear to be seeking shelter from the raging Sula Complex Fire. That image is by John McColgan back in 2000.

Austin Amestoy Yeah, I know exactly which photo you're talking about, Ed, and it's really powerful, you're right. Fire can seem like a big, terrifying threat to animals as well as people.

John McColgan, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service.

Edward O'Brien Higuera says those fast-paced dramatic incidents are far more the exception than the rule. I've learned the reality is far more nuanced than I imagined. Wildfires impact on animals is generally negligible. Wildlife have lived with fire for millennia, and it turns out they're quite well equipped to deal with it. Higuera says more common than that big flame fryer.

Philip Higuera Flames that are close to the ground and a fire front that is moving relatively slowly, it's producing a lot of smoke in front of it, there's a lot foreshadowing, right, that a fire is in the area and that a fire is coming, so animals have a lot time to move.

Edward O'Brien So part of what Higuera's saying is that we generally don't track wildlife deaths from wildfires because there aren't a whole heck of a lot of them in the first place. The Yellowstone fires of 1988 are a great example of this. They burn nearly 800,000 acres of the park and even more in the broader region.

Austin Amestoy You know Ed, that was a little before my time, but I've definitely heard people talking about those huge fires over the years.

Edward O'Brien In some ways, it may have been the general public's first exposure to a megafire since the Great Fire of 1910. I remember I had just arrived in Montana as a wet behind the ears, fresh out of high school, kid from Kentucky. And to this day, I can remember the public fear that those fires would destroy not only the nation's first national park, but so many of its animals.

Kerry Gunther These fires are so big. They were crossing highways and large rivers and stuff. No fire line could stop.

Edward O'Brien Yellowstone National Park bear management biologist Kerry Gunther was about 30 years old that summer. After the snow flew in September and finally snuffed out the last of the flames, Gunther was assigned to help find and study large mammals potentially killed by those fires.

Austin Amestoy Well, what did they discover?

Edward O'Brien He expected the team would discover a lot of dead animals.

Kerry Gunther We actually found very few animals from what I remember was like 261 large mammals that we found, mainly elk, a few bison, a moose, and a few mule deer.

Austin Amestoy Huh, how did these animals die?

Edward O'Brien Not in the ways that some people may expect. Gunther says researchers checked deep inside the animals' tracheas for caked soot and almost all were asphyxiated.

Kerry Gunther And some of them weren't burned at all, and others looked like they got burned after they were already dead from smoke inhalation.

Austin Amestoy It sounds like he's saying that far fewer animals died than he expected.

Edward O'Brien Bingo, that's exactly right.

Austin Amestoy We've talked a lot about the larger animals, Ed, but what about the small critters?

Edward O'Brien UM fire ecologist Philip Higuera reminds us that wildlife and vegetation in the Rockies are highly adapted to fire. Heck, even rely on it. For example, little amphibians or toads and salamanders and the like burrow underground to maintain their skin's moisture, escape both predators, and yes, harsh temperatures like the ones produced by big fires. Pika have a Similar strategy on talus slopes. Life does find a way, does it?

Austin Amestoy Indeed. Ed, it sounds like wildfires really do have a minuscule impact on wildlife.

Edward O'Brien On the micro scale, generally, yes.

Austin Amestoy Okay. Clarification Please on the micro scale?

There's an entirely different long term ecosystem-wide angle to consider that also isn't negative despite the raw power of wildland fires.

Austin Amestoy Intriguing, please explain.

Edward O'Brien The relationship between wildfire and habitat is nuanced. For example, the vegetation in areas that have burned recently, say five or ten years ago, is different than in areas long unburned. In those relatively recent burn zones, Higuera says you'll see a flush of tasty young shoots, grasses, herbs, and shrubs.

Philip Higuera

Philip Higuera And those are all more palatable or more desirable to wildlife species like ungulates, deer, elk.

Edward O'Brien Huckleberry crops often surge five, ten, heck, even 20 years following fire, drawing in black bears and grizzlies, although they also like the mature forests and the closed canopies provided by unburned habitat. Basically, Austin, fire-related changes in ecosystems can take years or decades, and wildlife habitat changes along with it.

Austin Amestoy We've reported somewhat recently that wildfires are burning hotter and fire seasons are generally longer these days. How could that alter this ancient rhythm and flow you're talking about?

Edward O'Brien Researchers are studying exactly this by looking at trees in recently burned areas. In some areas, those trees are not coming back. In others, they're regenerating more slowly.

Philip Higuera And in some areas, we can see that while trees are coming back, they seem to be favoring different tree species than what dominated before the fire.

Edward O'Brien In other words, forest types entirely are changing as the planet warms and wildfires burn more severely. This could have big impacts on the wildlife that lives in those forests too, but those impacts are unfolding in real time

Austin Amestoy One last question, Ed. We've spent all this time talking about wildfire burning actively on the ground, but what about the opposite? Can fire suppression impact wildlife?

Edward O'Brien Interesting – and absolutely. As scary, stressful and destructive as wildfires can be to humans and our neighborhoods, it is, don't forget, a natural and necessary process. Plus some animals like the black-backed woodpecker depend on landscapes that have burned.

Philip Higuera We need fire in systems that evolved with this process. If we remove it, we're going to change the system, and we're gonna have a lot of unintended consequences.

Austin Amestoy So, too much fire, fire that's too intense – not good – but so is excessive fire suppression.

Edward O'Brien Yeah, it's a delicate balancing act these days, isn't it?

Austin Amestoy It certainly is. Ed, thank you so much for your reporting.

Edward O'Brien Well, of course, and thank you for the opportunity.

Austin Amestoy: Now we want to know what makes you curious about Montana. Submit your questions below, or leave a message at 406-640-8933. Let's see what we can discover together! Find us wherever you listen to podcasts and help others find the show by sharing it and leaving a review.

Fireline

The connection between humans and fire goes back millions of years. What started with campfires and cooking grew into a burning addiction that catalyzed the Industrial Revolution and now shapes nearly every aspect of our society. Now, our ongoing reliance on fire in its many forms is changing the climate with explosive consequences for wildfires — and much more.