Wildfires across California have burned 1.5 million and caused significant destruction to life and properties. But for some native species, wildfires are beneficial as it recreates valuable habitat and biodiverse forest ecosystems.  

Earlier this month, the wildfires triggered by dozens of lightning struck across California displacing thousands of residents, filling the air with smoke and ashes, claiming at least six lives, stretching the resources of the fire department, and devastating homes and other properties. Wildfires are also reported in Colorado and Oregon. 

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Life in the Forest After the Fire

According to wildlife biologist Monica Bond, principal scientists at the Wildlife Nature Institute, charred forests from a severe wildfire may look lifeless, but "there's an absolute treasure trove of life thriving in there."

The first native species to arrive would be the longhorn beetles and wood borers. These creatures follow the smoke to eat the recently burned trees. These trees contain sapwood sans the sticky toxic resins that come with it to fend off the insects. 

Black-backed woodpeckers then follow shortly, feasting on beetle larvae and knocking on the remaining standing trees to carve out nest cavities. These nest cavities will eventually be a home for other birds after the woodpeckers leave. 

Wildflowers such as fire poppies would then emerge from ashes, with a group of delicious and beautiful mushrooms called morel.

Mammals then follow in waves. Small mammals look for seeds that have been exposed to the fire, while larger mammals prey on them. The burned forest is also beneficial to several bat species. 

Ms. Bond also said that spotted owls might return if the standing trees are not cut. Snags or the dead trees provide them and other species like bluebirds, flying squirrels, and Pacific fishers shelter in the burned forest area. 

Fallen trees, on the other hand, will eventually rot and bring their nutrients back to the soil.

These processes have happened time and again across several forest areas, including the Pacific Northwest, the boreal forests of Canada, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. These forests also went through severe wildfires, according to Bond. 

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Bad Idea to Cut Remaining Trees

Last month, wildfires consumed 18,000 acres of California's oldest state park and destroyed its buildings. But experts assured that although the trees would look terrible now as the fire consumed its crowns, it will eventually recover. Bond says that its thick barks insulate the tree from the heat, making them resilient to fires. 

The fire will look rough for a time, and it will take years for the crown to regrow, but the reassuring thing is that the tree survived. Wildfires in the west have created a forest patch that is rich in biodiversity. 

A year after the 2013 Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, Bond's research study indicated that the burned forest had a higher number of spotted owls than the green woods. This she attributes is because the snag gives the owl a good vantage point to look for prey.

Burned forests are essential because it is short-lived.

Bonds said that cutting the standing burned trees is an "ecologically terrible idea." Standing trees from the burned forest are cut by Forest Service and on private land in post-fire salvage logging sales because, for the Forest Service, it is ecologically necessary to 'restore' the forest.

Bonds disagrees with the idea. "From the perspective of a black-backed woodpecker, the fire was the restorative process, and the burned forest is what it needs," she said.

Wildfire, Bonds added, is a natural dynamic like rain or snow that happens in the forest. Burned forests also provide the native species with a special place to thrive and thus should be given the protection that they deserve.

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