Are wildfires destructive to California’s wildlife?
Wildfire impacts to wildlife range from positive to negative based on a number of wildfire and environmental characteristics. In California, many biological communities are adapted to fire. These include conifer forests, oak woodlands, chaparral shrublands and native grasslands. Fire is part of the ecosystems that animals inhabit and animals respond accordingly. Although there have been numerous fires burning over past few months, many natural areas still remain unburned. Wildlife will use these areas as well as areas adjacent to burned areas. The burned areas can create a habitat mosaic as the area recovers from a fire and this mosaic benefits many different species of wildlife. It is when fires occur too frequently or burn rapidly that wildlife are most impacted. Rapidly burning fires give wildlife less time to react in fleeing or taking shelter. The smoke, heat and flames of fast-moving fire fronts are more likely to kill wildlife than slower-moving fire.
