Monday, September 17, 2007

Castle Rock Update

Castle Rock Fire, Sawtooth National ForestRehabilitation Update - WildlifeSeptember 9, 2007
“From a wildlife perspective, this fire has created a lot of patches across the landscape that will produce different age classes, which will be good for wildlife habitat.” -Bobbi Filbert, Wildlife Biologist on the Burned Area Emergency Response Team
The Castle Rock Fire burned in a mosaic pattern, leaving islands of green interspersed with black. It is important to note, however, in some of the upper reaches of the fire, there were pockets of forest that burned at a very high intensity.
Several weeks have passed since the fire burned through some areas of the forest and tender succulent shoots are already growing in the burn area along Warm Springs Road. Recovery in other areas will take a lot longer.
During the winter, elk depend upon the bitterbrush, snowberry, and grasses lying beneath the snow on south-facing slopes. These slopes in Warm Springs and Greenhorn Gulch burned and will not have an opportunity to resprout before the snows fly in the next few months. This winter and next may be difficult ones for the elk herds. In future years, the elk will find plenty of food and herds will be stronger and larger than ever.
There are concerns about impacts from the burn to the winter elk range and the possibility of the introduction of non-native and noxious weeds. The U.S. Forest Service does not want to lose winter range to invasive species and scientists and specialists are in the process of assessing and making recommendations for both emergency stabilization and long-term recovery of the elk winter range on the Forest.