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Wildlife is in fight of its life
And nature, although on the ropes, shows how resilient it can be
By Bruce Lieberman STAFF WRITER
December 21, 2003
CUYAMACA – More than a month after fires roared across the state park here, the charred and contorted bodies of deer, bobcats and other creatures still lie in heaps.
The remains of a young buck, its three-point antlers brittle and broken, rest in the ash 20 feet from the delicate skeleton of a bobcat. Up a slope lie more bucks, does and fawns, many scavenged to the bone by ravens.
Park rangers and biologists counted the bodies of nearly 80 animals on a single hillside – more than 70 of them deer.
"I'd like to think that all these animals died for lack of oxygen first, before the fire hit them," UC-Davis researcher Tamra Brennan said as she hiked back to her truck, her boots sinking in the ash that covers much of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.
"That's what I'd like to believe."
From the base of Palomar Mountain in the north to Otay Mountain at the border, mammals, birds, reptiles and insects were overwhelmed by the ferocity of fires that swept across the backcountry in late October.
On Otay Mountain near the border, for example, fire might have obliterated a species of butterfly called Thorne's hairstreak.
San Diego County, from the beaches to the deserts, is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, and the fate of its wildlife will depend largely on how fast the habitats return.
The impact on individual species will be unclear for months, perhaps years, wildlife experts say.
A preliminary assessment of the fires' impact on wildlife and vegetation by scientists for Burned Area Emergency Response, a multi-agency group, tells both a sobering and hopeful story.
The Paradise, Cedar and Otay fires charred more than 376,000 acres, including 16 percent of the county's wildlands. Along with more than 2,400 human homes, the fires destroyed animal habitat, including coastal sage scrub and chaparral, oak woodlands, coniferous forests, mountain meadows and rolling grasslands.
Yet most mammal species probably suffered low levels of mortality during the fires, biologists say. Many larger animals likely escaped approaching flames, and there is at least anecdotal evidence that small burrowing animals are rebuilding in the scorched land.
It appears that small animals that do not tunnel beneath the ground for protection, such as brush rabbits, wood rats and voles, suffered greatly in the fires, biologists say. But their deaths have created feeding opportunities for ravens, crows, coyotes and foxes.
Ravens are surely getting their fill below Cuyamaca Peak. Their tracks have been seen circling carcasses there.
The fire probably overtook those animals quickly. Wildlife biologists found some deer kneeling, crouched low against the ground and fixed in place where the flames roared over them. For most of the animals, it appears as though they fell to the ground without struggling, a sign that asphyxiation killed them instantly.
Biologists don't know how many large mammals died in the fire or how many will succumb to injuries or starvation in coming months.
About a dozen mountain lions are believed to range between the Cuyamaca and Laguna mountains, and biologists have confirmed that one died because of the fires. Another was reported killed on a roadway.
An estimated 2,500 deer lived in the county before the fires, says the California Department of Fish and Game. Biologists believe more than 1,000 deer lived in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park before the blazes.
A few black bears have been seen in the backcountry in recent years, though the size of their population is not known for certain. Biologists have not found any dead from the fires.
But they have found the remains of some bobcats. The state has estimated there are 4,000 bobcats in California, but no reliable counts for San Diego County exist.
Wildlife biologists with the Conservation Biology Institute, the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park and various government agencies have been working on a census of mammals in the county. However, the census is not expected to be completed for two years, said Wayne Spencer, a biologist in San Diego with the Conservation Biology Institute.
Back to life
There are signs of recovery below Cuyamaca Peak, where so many animals died, and throughout the backcountry. Blades of grass rise from mounds of ash. Meadows are beginning to green over.
"This place is just going to come alive in the spring," said Mark Jorgensen, superintendent of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, as he examined the remains of a deer below Cuyamaca Peak. "It'll be unreal."
For the animals that survived the fires, the winter will be rough. Rain will be essential for habitat recovery, but there are no signs that the region's five-year drought is ending.
Animals surely will compete for resources, seeking food and cover in remaining patches of habitat. Deer, for example, might have fewer places to hide from their chief predator, the mountain lion.
In Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, biologists have seen evidence of a mountain lion attack on a deer that had wandered onto a burned and open hillside.
Mountain lions might also be heading toward Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in search of food, where endangered bighorn sheep live, biologists say. Mountain lions are the sheep's primary predator.
With so many animals on the move, many are also being killed by cars.
"The surviving wildlife in the area is just getting slaughtered out on the road," said Phillip Lambert, a naturalist at the Audubon Society's Silverwood Wildlife Sanctuary near Lakeside.
Animals have already searched out unburned habitat, in some cases finding their way onto private property where homeowners and firefighters made successful stands against the flames. And where the deer go, the mountain lions are sure to follow.
Hardships might last well into next year, but biologists don't expect the fire and its aftermath to threaten the survival of any species of mammals. Animals should be able to find food, no matter how decimated the backcountry appears.
Making things worse
Volunteer groups and individuals have been placing food throughout the area, but biologists say the animals should be left alone.
In Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, people have left alfalfa hay in burned meadows, close to roads. But deer cannot digest alfalfa, so they become bloated and actually starve to death, said Brennan, the UC-Davis researcher.
Dumping alfalfa on the side of the road, which is illegal in state parks, also lures deer near traffic.
And people who put out food on their properties for deer are asking for trouble.
"If you draw in deer, you're asking to draw in mountain lions," Brennan said.
"If a mountain lion does make a deer kill on your property," he said, "it's going to be protective of that deer kill and it's going to be on your property for three or four days while it's eating that kill. That doesn't sound very smart to me."
Although many animals will bounce back, the outlook is less certain for other wildlife.
The Thorne's hairstreak butterfly, for example, was known to live only on Otay Mountain and was entirely dependent on one type of tree, the Tecate cypress, for survival.
The fire on the mountain burned every Tecate cypress in the area to the ground as well as untold numbers of butterfly pupae within the leaf litter at the base of the trees, said Michael Klein, a biologist who has studied the butterfly for seven years.
"When I got out there, I had that sick feeling to my stomach," he said after a visit to the mountain at the end of October. "There is nothing left."
Tough times for birds
San Diego County provides habitat for more than 500 species of migratory birds, and the fires are believed to have destroyed critical habitat already fragmented by development.
Birds that survived the fires and those hatched in the next breeding season may be having a difficult time finding places to live. Habitats that remain could become crowded, making birds vulnerable to predators and disease. The continuing drought and persistent West Nile virus could compound the dangers.
Among the birds are the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher and the least Bell's vireo – both of which depend on habitats along the upper reaches of the San Luis Rey River, below Palomar Mountain. The Paradise fire burned much of that area.
The loss of coastal sage scrub, chaparral and grasslands could make life difficult for the California gnatcatcher, rufous-crowned sparrow and the greater roadrunner.
They and other non-migratory birds rely on such habitats during their travels throughout the county. Without the habitats, entire populations of birds could become geographically isolated.
Raptors, such as California spotted owls, bald eagles and golden eagles, have fewer places to nest, roost and perch. Wildlife experts say they are probably having a tougher time finding food until the populations of the small rodents they hunt – huge numbers of which are believed to have died in the fires – recover.
There are threats to wetland and shore birds, as well. As winter rains come, ash and sediment will wash into streams and rivers and flow into lagoons and marshes. Toxins from burned-out homes and other debris might accumulate in watersheds as runoff flows toward the ocean.
Among fish threatened in the aftermath of the Cedar fire are the native rainbow trout in Cedar Creek, Boulder Creek and the upper Sweetwater River. Five years of drought have hit these streams and water holes hard, and it is possible that heat from the Cedar fire completely evaporated some of the water holes.
In Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, biologists expect a full recovery, but it will take generations.
"As time goes on and the green-up occurs, Cuyamaca is actually going to be a better environment for deer than it was before," said Walter Boyce, a wildlife biologist at UC-Davis.
"These meadows and the underbrush that have been cleared out are going to provide wonderful habitat for deer to feed. The food is going to be more plentiful and more nutritious in the future.
"I fully expect the population to rebound and potentially exceed what it was before."
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Bruce Lieberman: (619) 293-2836; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com