Read the full story from the USDA Forest Service – Rocky Mountain Research Station.
The only thing constant is change — isn’t that how the saying goes? We know that wildlife in western forests evolved with changing habitat and disturbances like wildfire. Each species responds differently, some benefiting from openings, others losing critical habitat. What we don’t know is how increasing fire severity at large scales is impacting their habitat and survival, because many species are not adapted to these types of “megafires.” Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Research Station set about finding some answers. They summarize their findings in “The 2020-2021 California megafires and their impacts to wildlife habitat,” a paper that published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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