Mike -

For those of us not so familiar with this area, is this a primarily a
rangeland/cropland fire that is burning into lowland riparian areas or is it
burning up forested drainages into the Blue Mountains? What are the plant
and bird species likely to most affected?

It is my understanding that riparian tree species such as Cottonwood are at
least somewhat fire resistant (see for e.g.
http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt200101.html). Presumably riparian
habitats in grassland areas are subjected to periodic fires and must be
somewhat adapted to those conditions. This is a naturally caused fire I
believe (lightning strikes) albeit exacerbated by unusually hot and dry
summer (global warming perhaps??).

thanks, Charles.

On 8/25/06, mike denny <m.denny at charter.net> wrote:
>
> Hello All,
> Just returned from one of the fires in Columbia Co. and we now know that
> several of the most important Neo-tropical Migratory Bird breeding areas
> in
> Southeastern Washington have gone up in flames. The most devastating fire
> is
> called the Pyne Hollow Fire and to date it has burned 67,000 acres and is
> still growing! Bird habitat losses will take years to recover. The loss of
> many riparian creek bottoms and dense black hawthorn scrub forests will
> have
> a huge impact on many dependant species. The cost to the humans in the
> area
> is not slight either. This fire is on private lands and is being fought by
> the DNR and Columbia Co. fire folks.
> Later Mike
>
> ********************************************************************
> Mike & MerryLynn Denny
> 1354 S. E. Central Ave.
> College Place, WA 99324
> 509.529.0080 (h)
>
> IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN BIRDING, YOU HAVEN'T LIVED!
> *******************************************************************
>
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--
Charles Swift
Moscow, ID
chaetura at gmail.com
http://www.uidaho.edu/~charless