|
|
|
Range fire alters ALE environmentThis story was published June 30, 2000 By the Herald staff The Fitzner-Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecology Reserve with its dominating Rattlesnake Ridge is solid black - a giant ash beneath the sky. That means change has begun for the animals and vegetation of the ALE. Major components of the reserve's vegetation are sagebrush and grass. Grass grows back quickly, probably returning in full to the ALE by next spring. But sagebrush takes many decades to grow back, meaning creatures that dine on sagebrush are unlikely to return for a long time. That includes sage grouse, an endangered species that showed up on the ALE in 1999 after not being seen there for at least 10 years. Sage burrows and loggerhead shrikes also are unlikely to return until the sagebrush does, said Larry Cadwell, a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Meanwhile, the 800 or so elk that live there may return in a few months. | |