WILDFIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

By Shane Kiefer, CWB®, Senior Wildlife Biologist

With over $500 million in losses,the 2011 wildfire season was the most expensive in Texas history, according to the Insurance Council of Texas. The Bastrop Fire alone was more destructive than any single year in history with $325 million in losses. In the past year, wildfires statewide have destroyed nearly 4 million acres and more than 2,900 homes, killing 10 people.

You have probably heard many of these statistics before. While they are scary, it might seem difficult to determine how you, as a landowner, can have any impact. The natural inclination is to go out and do big things that you hope will solve the problem or protect you. The problem is that big things are not always the right choice.

When it comes to ecological issues one of my favorite mantras is: "The quicker the fix, the higher the risk, and the greater the cost."

The good news regarding wildfires is that they are really only a problem when they threaten our property or lives. Fire is an important part of the ecology of our state. We cannot, and should not, rid the landscape of fire. That policy was tested in the western U.S. in the 20th century and resulted in catastrophic fires including the famous Yellowstone Fires of 1988. What we should do is address fires at the point where they threaten property and lives: the wildland/urban interface. This term includes any area where human habitat (houses, barns, etc.) meet wildlife habitat, so it is not limited to those sprawling suburbs with greenbelts.

The place where that fire threatens your house, barn, livestock, or life is where your action needs to occur. More good news: that area is relatively small. This makes it easy to create what should be the focus of any rural landowner: defensible space. Defensible space is an area around a structure that is managed to reduce the threat of wildfire reaching the structure and one that can be protected in the event it is threatened by wildfire. This space does not have to be large. Even if you went to an extreme of 200 feet from your house, that's only 3 acres that needs management. Compare the cost of that to the cost of managing 300, 3,000, or 30,000 acres of the landscape.

How should this space be managed? That depends on each particular situation including vegetation, topography, surrounding landscape, etc. Plateau has Texas Forest Service certified "Citizen Wildlife Ecology Specialists" on staff to help you identify your particular risk level and to help you mitigate your risk in the event you are ever threatened by fire. Many of the steps to reduce your risk are inexpensive and simple to do. While nothing can guarantee protection from fire, you can reduce your risk and increase the chances your home will survive. And with the right advice, it is a whole lot easier than you might think.

With over $500 million in losses,the 2011 wildfire season was the most expensive in Texas history, according to the Insurance Council of Texas. Photo: Texas Forest Service.

AFTER THE FIRE

By Shane Kiefer, Senior Wildlife Biologist, Plateau Land & Wildlife Management

Immediately after the fire. A Plateau team member's family property in Scurry County, April 2011.

The recent wildfires have wreaked havoc, claiming lives and property. Natural disasters such as this bring into stark contrast the sometimes competing interests of people and the world we inhabit. Chances are you have already seen stories about the benefits that the fires will have for wildlife: renewed vigor of plants, reduction of invasive plant species, and (when the rains come) an explosion of new growth providing food and cover for wildlife and livestock. After mentioning these benefits to a friend, she asked if any other natural disasters come with similar silver linings for wildlife. That's the kind of question that makes my day.

The fact is that most, if not all, natural disasters have positive aspects to them (the horrendous toll they can take on family, friends, and property, notwithstanding). The important thing to consider is that these disasters do not happen in order to create these positive outcomes. Conversely, the lesson is that plants and animals have evolved to take advantage of these disturbances. What amazes me most is that there is always some form of life waiting in the wings to take advantage of opportunities presented by these catastrophic events. Perhaps more importantly, the natural history of many species is such that they rely on these natural processes to create or restore their habitats. Not all species will benefit, but healthy lands recover more quickly because the diversity of plants and animals there know how to deal with disaster.

Flooding brings nutrient-laden sediment to floodplains. Healthy plants capture that sediment and build the floodplain up. In the massive river deltas of Louisiana, this creates the very wetlands that define the southern part of the state and provide hurricane protection. Aquatic and wetland-dependent species will have a boom year in the heavily flooded Southeastern U.S. Concentrating floodwaters into deep, levee-protected channels prevents this process from occurring, resulting in erosion and the dumping of sediments into the Gulf. On a more local level, healthy rivers and floodplains provide tremendous benefits to wildlife while protecting our lands from erosion.

Fire, wind and ice storms, and some insect infestations in forests open up pockets in the canopy, creating "edge" that allows light to reach the understory, resulting in growth of shade-intolerant grasses and shrubs that provide food and cover for many species of wildlife. This, of course, is to the detriment of forest species that rely on large, uninterrupted stands of intact canopy.

Oak wilt, which many landowners will heartily agree is a slow-moving natural disaster on their land, creates new snags (dead trees) that are habitat for insects, animals that feed on them, and cavity-nesting species like Eastern bluebirds and woodpeckers. On a recent site visit with a landowner in Kerr County, I was able to show him the abundance of low-shrub growth occurring beneath several dead oaks, which was providing excellent low food and cover for deer, quail, songbirds, and other wildlife. Healthy lands have an abundance of tree species, many of which will not be susceptible to oak wilt, and will flourish in the aftermath. If live oak is all you have, oak wilt can be devastating.

Even drought, for which it may be hard to find a silver lining, helps set the stage for fires. It can also reduce decadent plant growth, even without fire, and encourages a flush of annual forbs and other weedy species when the rains return that doves, deer, seed-eating songbirds, and many other species rely upon. Think about how many spring weeds you have in your yard following a hard summer with watering restrictions when your sod cannot get as thick and lush as you might like.

Some of these relationships and adaptations provide what are collectively termed "ecosystem services". These are benefits that accrue to us from the natural world and are often thought to be more economical than human-engineered solutions. Floodplains that reduce sediment loads and filter floodwaters give us cleaner water and reduce the need for dredging our ship channels. The same goes for healthy grasslands, woodlands, and forests in the uplands of watersheds, like those that occur on your lands. Some of these services were lost long ago (millions of Eskimo Curlews eating untold tons of crop-damaging insects on the Great Plains comes to mind), but many are still intact and functioning on your lands. Sometimes these processes must be balanced with human needs, but my hope is that at least you learn about and consider them before taking action.

Between May 2010 and April 2011, Plateau helped over 160 landowners put approximately 25,000 acres under new wildlife management plans. We also updated plans on at least that many acres. This is a fact that we as a company (and I, personally, as a biologist) take great pride in. With sound management, the lands that have joined us over the last year are healthier and better equipped to handle natural disasters, both large and small, if they come.