Fire Ecology Stories

Wildfires have been burning more land, more frequently, and at higher severity levels since the mid-1980s in the western US. Some forested areas may convert to non-forest as a result. Though patchy openings in forests are ecologically valuable, extensive loss of forest means an overall loss of habitat for forest dwelling wildlife and other consequences. Learn about two recently published studies of fire effects on forests at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

In the eight years since the Strawberry Creek fire, much has changed in the area, with restoration efforts to bring back native vegetation, stream condition, and fish habitat.

In July 2024, fire ecologists re-visited a study area an in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve that burned twice in rapid series. The 2009 Chakina Fire burned ~ 56,000 acres in the Chitina River Valley. A mere seven years later, a third of the Chakina fire area reburned in the 2016 Steamboat Fire.

Northern Arizona University (NAU) graduate student Matt Behrens, with assistance from the NPS Alaska Western Area Fire Management Fire Ecology team, instrumented several of the piles with high-heat temperature sensors to record the flux of heat into the soil column. A first look at retrieved data showed a several hour delay in the transfer of heat through the organic-rich duff layers, and minimal soil heating effects beyond the pile edge.

In 2024, the Arkansas Park Fire Management Zone achieved significant milestones through initiatives funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). With BIL funding, the Arkansas Park Zone treated over 1,400 acres of high-risk land.

Fires in the tundra happen less often than in the boreal forest. Fires can be sporadic and widely distributed. The years between fire events, called fire return intervals, vary widely from 30 years to over 1,000 years in the tundra.

The NPS Alaska Eastern and Western Area Fire Management ecology teams installed thirteen ecological monitoring plots around two native allotments, located within the legislated boundary of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The ecology teams were also interested in learning more about the fire history in the area. While collecting data, they observed evidence of previous wildfire.

Volunteers, park staff and wildland fire managers work together to conduct restoration efforts at Porter Beach in Indiana Dunes National Park.

NPS fire ecology teams installed paired monitoring plots in a fuel break and surrounding natural forest. The information gathered from these monitoring plots will help inform decisions about fuel break types as land managers balance the need for reducing wildfire risk to allotments with other park values.

July 2023 marked the 2nd year that the Alaska regional fire ecology program engaged with teachers from around Alaska in partnership with Project Learning Tree. Two NPS Alaska regional fire ecologists taught a segment of an educator workshop at Denali National Park and Preserve. The annual workshop is a continuing education program offered to K-12 teachers from across the state who are incorporating fire ecology into their classroom curriculums.