Effect of Wildfire on Wildlife

Running head: EFFECT OF WILDFIRE ON WILDLIFE
Effect of Wildfire on Wildlife
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EFFECT OF WILDFIRE ON WILDLIFE
Fire can be useful in promoting ecosystem restoration and it can help in managing
wildlife habitat. Not all disasters that lead to the destruction and depletion of the forests are
caused by human activities. Some are also caused by the forces of nature, and human beings
have no control over it. One such instance is the causing of wildfire and the pernicious effects of
it on the rich variety of wildlife that depends on the forests for their shelter. However, with the
expansion of number of needs of human beings, the requirement to penetrate deep into forests
and burn them to clear out the mess is also increasing. Wildfires are a rare occurrence but when
they break out they can be disastrous. In the yesteryears it was not possible to control wild fire
manually as the logistical help was not available to the people, and only rain was the way in
which wildfire could be tamed. The first article Fire Effects on Wildlife in the Central
Hardwoods and Appalachian Regions USA” prescriptive concepts of burning can be useful for
the animal species. The second article “Wildland Fire in Ecosystems” states that forest fires can
help in bringing forth new plants but in the longer run it can be instrumental in harming wildlife.
The third article “Managing Forests after Fire” states that adaptive management can be useful in
relation to outbreak of forest fire as it helps in building on the existent practices that can improve
the practice of fire management. In today’s world it is possible to control forest fire since fire-
fighting essentials can be airlifted and before the fire could engulf a major part of the forest, it
can be extinguished quickly. However the benefit forest fires cause to the natural habitat of the
wild animals is worth the mention. The purpose of this essay for this particular essay is thus
going to be about the management of the forest fires from unleashing its harmful effects on the
wildlife and the valuable natural resources as well along with a mention of the benefits of low
intensity forest fires. In the following sections, the discussion shall be proceeding on the basis of
the thesis statement, illustrating the viewpoints of scholars on the issue.

2EFFECT OF WILDFIRE ON WILDLIFE
The thesis statement of the first article Fire Effects on Wildlife in the Central Hardwoods
and Appalachian Regions USA” is the enquiry into the prescriptive concepts of how burning can
be useful for the animal species. The first article states that application of fire on the positions
that are best suited in relation to burning can be instrumental in increasing regional landscape
heterogeneity. This article states that prescriptive concepts pertaining to burning that can be
useful for the different wildlife species in Central Hardwoods. Harper et al (2016) in their article
talks about the issue of forest fires affecting the wildlife of the savanna grasslands and oak
forests of the region of Central Hardwoods and the Appalachian mountains of the United States
of America. The reason behind the outbreak of the fire as provided by the scholars of this
particular article is not a natural one, which is generally caused by the strong wind blowing at a
great energy, uprooting trees and making them dash against each other. In that process of the
generation of the frictional force immense amount of heat energy is produced and that causes the
fire to burn large portions of the forest to be engulfed. On the contrary it has been said by Harper
et al (2016) that the forest fires are a result of human activities. There has been a rising wave of
activities which involves clearing of the forest canopies for allowing the sunlight to penetrate the
forest floor properly so that silviculture could be possible. As a result of it, the forests had to be
burnt down. The authors of this particular research article has prescribed that burning of forests
is not in totality a menace, it is rather a necessary evil which must be taken into make the forest
habitable for many species who would otherwise lose out on their living space in the forest. The
intensity of the fire has to be put under check in order to ensure that the foliage from the forest
gets effectively cleared without causing much harm to the full grown trees. On the basis of
research it has been deduced that a forest area above 12 hectares of land surface area should
ideally be burnt down for the sake of making forests habitable for several species. The most