FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Ursus americanus | Black Bear 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Direct fire-caused mortality probably has little effect on populations
as a whole [30].


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
Fires that favor early and mid-seral fruit-producing shrubs and
plentiful grasses and forbs are beneficial to bears.  Many bear foods
are enhanced by fire [3,8,16,19,20].  Fire can also provide a medium for
insect invasion, which could provide food.  Huckleberries and
blueberries are more productive on recently burned sites compared to
unburned sites [6,16,19,20].  However, hot, duff-consuming fires can
destroy shallow rhizomes [16].  Fire can also reduce important food
species in the short-term [30].  A study in western Montana found that
berry production was low for globe huckleberry (Vaccinium globulare) in
mature stands and stands burned 60 to 100 years previously [33].  Berry
production was best on sites burned between 25 and 60 years previously
or on clearcuts that were broadcast burned 8 to 15 years previously.


FIRE USE : 
Fire can be used to create and maintain seral plant communities
important to bears for food.  Young and Beecham [46] recommended the
adoption of a "let burn" policy for wildfires and the use of prescribed
fire for enhancing bear food.  Unsworth and others [43] suggested
broadcast burning logging slash (or leaving it untreated) rather than
piling and burning, which can destroy some important shrubs.  Landers
[30] stated that burning at 3-year intervals in open slash pine (Pinus
elliottii) forests would optimize fruit production in blackberries,
blueberries, and common gallberries (Ilex glabra).  However, certain
fire-sensitive fruit producers should be protected for longer time
periods.  Landers listed recommendations for burning in pocosins and
hardwood swamps.


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Ursus americanus | Black Bear