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You have not seen how wildfires have completely changed the landscape of unit 7W. Some areas are a wasteland still from fires a decade ago. We don't get the moisture needed to regrow. Huge tracts are nearly void of any wildlife now, that used to be PRIME deer, elk, and turkey habitat. And believe me, the areas that were unaffected do not miraculously contain all the game that was displaced.
I've clearly never seen area 7W in my life, and I don't know all that much about Arizona. What I do know is that a century of biological study is very clear about the fact that wildfires don't cause population level effects on wildlife. And (typically) the re-growth is significantly better than what was there before the burn. Of course, good areas go bad and bad areas become great all the time, all over the country, with or without a fire, or the intervention of man. I've seen game abandon areas en masse with no fires. We've got areas where I live that used to contain 100 deer per square mile, and now there are probably 10. The flipside is that there are areas that used be hold 10, and now they hold 100. Nature is never static. Those animals went somewhere. I won't say that fires don't kill animals, but they don't eliminate populations.
I dont know anything about wildfires in your area. In the West, Idaho, Wa, Oregon, Mont. Wyoming wildfires kill all kinds of wildlife directly and indirectly with an immediate impact that often takes years if ever they recover. Please send your types of wildfires to the west as those would be a blessing.
Yep, happens often. I think the last one of city dwelling hikers burning their butt wipe starting a huge wildfire was about 10-12 years ago. They openly admitted what they did as if it was ok.
I'm clearly not a biologist, and maybe you are, but these fires have been studied for a century or more, and I'll stand by what I said.
agrilifeextension.tamu.edu
Unfortnately...not every Oregonian uses the woods wisely...there are still plenty of idiots that are city dwellers that live by street lights..seldom seeing the sun or the moon.......
If a fire pushes through fast, you are correct. It appears to kill everything, but the roots and cores are spared, and will regrow, sometimes as fast as a year later seeing new growth.
As a firefighter I understand the dynamics of fire. Like I said, thats the exception, or at least the vast minority. I have two five-digit acre wildfires within 20 miles of my house that hold great wildlife a few years later. My go to elk spot where we can get into elk every day is a burn scar. Fire in general is a net benefit to wildlife.
