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Wildfires in Washington state, dwarf rabbits and grouses fight for survival


In the U.S. Federal List of Threatened Species, Columbia Basin Dwarf Rabbit, The smallest rabbit in the country, is less than 12 inches in length and weighs less than 1 pound.

Although the dwarf rabbit lives in Nine U.S. statesThe Columbia Basin population that dug holes in Washington State is considered particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Over the past decade, wildlife experts have witnessed this vulnerability as wildfires have raged across the state.

The wildfire “not only destroyed their habitat-it also killed the rabbits in the cave,” said Jay Kehne, the head of the sage project at the Northwest Conservation Organization. “They went there to seek protection, but they were not protected because the fire was too hot and it moved too fast.” In the picture above, a dwarf rabbit was photographed in Douglas County, Washington.
Photo courtesy of Michael Schroeder

Researchers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Northwest Conservation Organization, an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), identified the pygmy rabbit as one of their most concerned species during the wildfire season. Time is getting longer and more ferocious.

In last year’s Record wildfire season, The fire that started on Labor Day weekend in Washington State burned more than 500,000 acres According to a report from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, in less than 48 hours.

One of the wildfire events, known as the Pearl Mountain Fire, was described by WDFW research scientist Michael Schroeder as a “quite traumatic” effect on the pygmy rabbit population in the Columbia Basin.

“We are trying to expand the population, trying to re-establish the population in areas where they existed before but have been extinct,” Schroeder told Weekly newspaper“In doing so, we built a transitional fence, a place where you can raise rabbits and transition them to life in the wild.”

The devastating effects of this fire still exist.

“”not only [the Pearl Hill Fire] Burned down the habitat where we planned to move them, but it burned down the fence where rabbits live,” Schroeder said. “For this work, it is very dramatic and disastrous. “

Jay Kenny, The sagelands project leader of the Northwest Conservation Organization told Weekly newspaper Four years ago, a fire destroyed nearly half of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits in the state, when there were only about 180 Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits in the state.

“This will not only destroy their habitat-it will also kill the rabbits in their burrows.” Keene said. “They went there to seek protection, but they were not protected because the fire was too hot and it moved too fast.”

The consequences are devastating.

“Basically, every fire will wipe out half of the known population,” he said.

Washington’s pygmy rabbits live in shrubland and eat sagebrush. These two wildfires tend to burn quickly.

Greater sage
A larger sage is displayed in its natural, unburnt habitat in Douglas County, Washington.
Photo courtesy of Michael Schroeder

Columbian Point Tail Grouse with Greater sage It also lives in shrubland habitats and is listed as an endangered species in Washington, although they do not have the same list at the federal level.

Kehne estimates that there are about 700 sages living in Washington, and said that the impact of wildfires on their habitat has made them endangered in the state.

Schroeder’s work focuses on the Columbian grouse and the sage grouse. He said that researchers have observed that since last year, the number of grouse visiting the courtship area (called the lek site) located within the most recent fire has decreased by 77 %, although the grouse at the lek site outside these borders has increased by 13%. At the same time, the researchers noticed that the number of sage in the fire area decreased by 22%, and the number outside the fire area increased by 4%.

Point Tail Grouse
A sharp-tailed grouse was photographed in Washington State.
Photo courtesy of Michael Schroeder

“The big question that remains to be seen is what the long-term impact is,” Schroeder said. He said that female grouses have limited nesting options, so they may return to recently burnt areas, although they lack grass and sagebrush mulch, and birds need them to protect their nests from predators. Infringe.

“To make matters worse, we have been very dry last year and this year, and this year is incredibly dry,” Schroeder added. “The most important thing is that we experienced a record-breaking high temperature, which made things worse. It’s like we were attacked from all directions at the same time: fire, drought, high temperature. The situation is getting harder and harder.”

Sage habitat
“People will say that we always have fires; it has always been a part of nature, and it will always recover,” Jay Kane, the head of the Sagelan project of the Northwest Conservation Organization, told Newsweek. “But there are some huge warnings, some huge differences. These fires now have threats that did not exist in ancient history.” In this photo, the sage habitat was after a wildfire in Douglas County, Washington, in 2020. Taken a few days.
Photo courtesy of Michael Schroeder

Both Schroeder and Kehne identified dwarf rabbits and grouses as the most concerned animals in the escalating threat of wildfires.

But these are not the only species at risk.

“The focus is on the much-needed species, the endangered species, and all the other species that live there: many songbirds, raptors, gophers, rattlesnakes, badgers, deer, elk, bears,” Kehne said.

The number and intensity of fires are causing serious damage to wildlife populations.

“It lasts forever,” he said. “All these species-with more intense, more frequent and bigger fires, it becomes harder and harder.”

According to John Kanter, a senior wildlife biologist at the NWF, researchers generally believe that wildfires are useful for habitat management. However, the escalation of wildfires in recent years has brought the threat of “sterilization” to species within reach.

Healthy sagebrush
In March 2018, a healthy sagebrush was photographed in the Upper Moses Coulee in Douglas County, Washington.
Chase Gunnell/Northwest Conservation Organization

“As a wildlife biologist, we view fires from a very positive perspective to maintain high-quality habitat throughout the landscape. But this situation is changing,” Kanter said Weekly newspaper“The name of the game is not governed by certain ongoing conditions.”

Although Kehne said that past fires would jump in the grass, invasive species such as paramecium that easily spread throughout the landscape are now more likely to allow fires to develop into what he calls “hell.” Schroeder also believes that cheat grass is “important” because its seeds are easily spread, usually by attaching to animal fur and spreading wherever the animal goes.

“Cheating grass is a serious problem, and in many cases, it can indeed cause these fires more easily,” Schroeder said. He added that finding a way to limit its spread is “one of the things we as a whole Westerners have been working hard on.”

Point Tail Grouse in Flight
The spike-tailed grouse, photographed in Washington State, flies over the unburnt grassland.
Ferdi Businger/Northwest Conservation Organization

“People will say that we always have fires; it has always been a part of nature and will always recover. But there are some huge warnings, some huge differences,” Kehne said, citing the spread of cheating grass as an example. “These fires that are happening now pose a threat that did not exist in ancient history.”

In addition to concerns about the invasive species that caused wildfires, the current drought conditions and heat waves that are believed to have caused hundreds of deaths in the western United States this summer have raised fire threat levels in Washington and other states as the wildfire season approaches.

As concerns about wildfires intensify, Schroeder said that last year’s Washington fires highlighted the similarities between the threats facing humans and animals.

“If someone wants to admit that wild animals and humans are in the same situation, then wildfires are like [the Pearl Hill Fire] Help explain it because it is affecting all of us,” Schroeder said. “It is affecting wildlife, it is affecting the people who live there, it is affecting the habitats on which we all depend. “



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