Background

Wildfires are becoming more and more relevant with climate change, and while they have many devastating effects on people, they also can change where birds live. In this study, we are measuring the occupancy of birds across the Caples Creek Region in Eldorado National Forest. Resiliency is how an ecosystem responds to such changes, and measuring these changes is vital to our understanding of the effects of wildfires. One of the main ways to prevent large, uncontrolled fires is to conduct prescribed burns. Prescribed burns are very successful at reducing the impact of wildfires, and measuring the prescribed burns' impact on wildlife is vital to understanding how to best implement them.

The study site in this project is special because there has not only been a prescribed burn conducted, but there has also been a violent wildfire (Caldor Fire) in the same area. This allows us to have varying levels of fire severity across the area that we are surveying.

Using the photos below, it is easy to see that the controlled burn significantly reduces the severity of the wildfire.