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Facts on Common Topics

Wildfire Season and Wildlife

California has experienced an overwhelming amount of fires this year. Many of the fires in the north state were started by lightning strikes. Although fire is a very necessary element to healthy wildlife habitats, fire can be devastating to individual animals. The following provides some essential information on wildlife and wildland fire. DFG is dedicated to promoting wildlife value while supporting the many state and federal efforts to protect life and property. DFG is working individually and as a member of multi-agency efforts to assess effects of fires to wildlife, rehabilitate wildlife when necessary, protect Wildlife Areas and Ecological Reserves and promote habitat and watershed restoration.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I do if I come across orphaned or injured wildlife?

Most animals will get out of harms way, but some might not be so fortunate. If orphaned or injured wildlife is found the best thing to do is let “mother nature” take its course. If intervention is absolutely necessary the public should notify a licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility or DFG directly.

There are 106 licensed wildlife rehabilitation facilities throughout the state. Wildlife rehabilitators and/or DFG will be able to help the public assess if human intervention is necessary. Fawns, for example are left alone for hours by their mother and most of the time do not need rescuing. Fledgling birds leave the nest sometimes before they can fly and will flutter around the ground for a couple of days before they can fly – they are being watched and fed by their parents from a distance and do not need intervention. Other situations may warrant human intervention, but always assess each situation carefully before reacting and plucking the wild animal out of the wild. Humans will never be able to provide the care that a wild parent would. Injured adult animals will find temporary captivity extremely stressful.

If an animal is truly orphaned or severely injured, wildlife rehabilitators can temporarily possess and care for the animal. Wildlife rehabilitators are aware of the proper diets that most wildlife requires and can provide the food and shelter necessary to temporarily care for injured or orphaned wild animals.

Please be advised that injured or orphaned big game mammals such as adult deer, bears, elk, antelope, wild pigs and mountain lions must be reported directly to DFG and not to wildlife rehabilitation centers. Wildlife rehabilitators are not permitted to possess big game animals, other than deer fawns, except by special permission. 

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.

How does wildlife react to wildfire?

Wildlife have two basic reactions to wildfire:  fleeing or taking shelter. These adaptations are the same behaviors used in response to other threats, such as predators. Depending on how quickly animals are able perceive changes (e.g., smoke, heat), animals will flee from fire. Faster and more mobile animals, like song birds and larger mammals, take flight. Smaller and less mobile animals offer take shelter, in burrows, tree cavities, rock outcrops and areas near bodies of water.

Interestingly, other species of wildlife sensing fire will soon return to areas once the fire front has moved past. Attracted by cues of a fire, they take advantage of dying trees as food (e.g., some species of beetles) or as predators themselves (e.g., birds consuming the insects). 

How do wildfires affect wildlife?

In simplified terms, impacts to wildlife are based on the characteristics of the wildfire: season, frequency, extent, complexity, duration, and intensity and severity. The impacts are either direct or more likely indirect. In many cases, it is the indirect effects that most impact wildlife. 

  • Season:  When the fire occurs.  Example of an effect to wildlife - spring and early summer fires will impact young wildlife.
  • Frequency:  The time between fires, also called fire-return-interval. Example of an effect to wildlife- Fires too close together disrupt or eliminate essential habitat for wildlife, preventing wildlife from re-colonizing burned areas.
  • Extent: The size of a fire. More wildlife habitat is affected by larger fires, and this can be positive or negative, depending on other characteristics of the fire. A small fire may have no impacts but may also bring necessary changes that would be good for wildlife. Large fires may have short-term effects by burning up shelter and food for some wildlife. But other wildlife may take advantage.
  • Complexity: The pattern of burning and differences in intensity and duration. A fire is not uniform in its temperature or how it moves or how long it remains on a given piece of ground. One example of an impact to wildlife is that a very complex fire creates a mosaic of immediate effects, including completely unburned areas, and causes diversity wildlife habitat as the area recovers. The complexity in burn effects and habitat allow many types of wildlife to take advantage of the fire area.
  • Duration: This is the rate that fire burns across the landscape. One example of an effect to wildlife is that slow moving, moderate fires can impact wildlife that shelter underground, because the slow pace allows heat to penetrate the soil.  An intense, rapidly moving fire may have less effect because the fast pace disallows for heat to impact wildlife.
  • Intensity/severity: Intensity describes the energy released by fire, while severity describes the magnitude of effect. An example of an effect to wildlife is that more intense fires release more energy. If this results in more damage (i.e., greater severity) to plant species, wildlife habitat will suffer and animals will be indirectly impacted.

Does wildfire provide benefits to wildlife?

After a fire, wildlife may be temporarily displaced from previous habitats. This displacement may be short-lived, just until surviving plants regrow and seeds sprout. But displacement may take longer, requiring some years before the right habitat exists for a particular animal species. Which animals are able to take advantage of the new habitat depends on the severity, complexity and extent of the wildfire.

Although some animals may leave a burned area, many others will utilize the newly burned area extensively. Here are several examples of how wildlife may utilize an area after a wildfire:

  • woodpeckers are attracted to new nesting cavities and increased insect activity;
  • ground-feeding birds find uncovered and opened seeds;
  • new vegetation growth provides fresh browse for deer;
  • raptors have open and accessible hunting grounds;
  • rodent species that prefer open areas colonize.

Will the fire season interfere with hunting?

These wildland fires are partly due to drier than normal conditions. DFG anticipates hunting closures and/or restrictions on many public lands for the 2008/09 hunting season. If you plan to hunt U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management lands this year, it is important that you monitor the individual National Forest and Resource Areas for updates on potential closures.

Where can I find more information on wildfires in California?