Looking at the aftermath
of a wildfire might make you think
that no good can come from it.
After all, it demolishes homes,
displaces thousands of people and animals,
and incinerates millions of acres of land.
But, believe it or not, there are more benefits
to wildfires than meets the eye.
For example, some wildlife don't just survive the flames;
they actually thrive in the fire's wake.
In 2001, wildfires in New Mexico destroyed
the endangered Jemez Mountains salamander's habitat.
But the population survived by hiding out
in nooks and crannies of rocks.
It turns out many amphibians and smaller animals
who can't outrun the flames take cover in logs,
under rocks, or by burying themselves in the dirt.
At the other end of the spectrum, large animals
like elk and deer flee to streams or lakes for protection.
Other animals aren't so lucky.
Koalas, for example, will instinctively crawl up trees,
trapping themselves in the flames.
But wildfires aren't just a threat;
they're also an opportunity, especially for predators
like bears, raccoons, and raptors
who hunt down creatures trying to escape.
In fact, it's even been reported
that raptors will intentionally spread fires
to flush out prey.
However, the real benefits of fires come
after the flames die down.
Pine trees, for example, open up their waxy cones
and release their seeds during the fire.
But it's the ashes the fire leaves behind
that fertilize the soil so the seeds can grow.
Moreover, the fire removes debris as well
as dead and diseased plants, which exposes the ground
to more sunlight in the process.
This helps seedlings sprout and can sometimes
even spawn thousands of flowers in the fire's wake.
And many animals also take advantage
of a freshly-burned forest.
The charred remains of trees provide the perfect habitat
for insects and small wildlife.
Wood wasps, for instance, depend on the burned trees
to lay their eggs.
And other animals like black-backed woodpeckers
will actively seek out burned forests for a tasty snack.
They binge on bark beetles that live in the dead trees
and make their homes in the blackened bark.
And while this delicate balance between destruction
and new growth has been a way of life for millennia,
human interference is changing that.
Over the last century, we stifled wildfires
so forests became unnaturally overgrown
and contained plenty of deadwood just waiting
to ignite like a ticking time bomb.
This, along with increased temperatures
and more droughts, has made wildfires more devastating
and frequent than ever before in places like California,
making it harder for plants and animals
to rebound like they used to.
So if we don't start clearing dead vegetation
and helping fires run their natural course,
we may end up threatening forests and wildlife
more than any fire ever could.