Antelope Island: After The Fire
July 23, 2024.
A fire breaks out AT Antelope Island State Park.
July 26, 2024.
Despite the wildfire that burned 59 acres of Antelope Island this Tuesday, life continues. I was pleased to see that the area, although void of color, was still full of life. Grasshoppers traveled through the miniature black forests, shrikes perched on burnt branches looking for food, and meadowlarks’ songs filled the smokey air.
July 26, 2024.
The charred area stands out like a scar on the island. I realize I’ve seen the earth sport blankets of green, white, red, and brown, but never black like this.
July 26, 2024.
A pair of burrowing owls find a rock to perch on after their home was scorched. In summers like these, much of their diet consists of insects like grasshoppers and dragonflies. I start to wonder if their blackened hunting grounds make it easier for them to find food, but I doubt it’s a fair trade off for them. Like most birds, their lungs are extremely sensitive, and hopping around the scorched earth is surely sending ash into their airways.
July 26, 2024.
Thanks to the quick work of firefighters, this fire only burned 59 acres. Its relatively small size allowed most wildlife to escape it.
Unfortunately, the same can not be said for larger fires burning in North America, which are often 10x, 100x, or ever 1000x this size. Since January 1st, 4,678,064 acres have burned in the United States. That is almost a million acres above the ten year average, and we still have months of wildfire season to go.
Nine months have passed since the fire.
After the scorching sun of August, the bitter cold of January, and the incessant snows of March, plant life is finally returning to the burn zone. Seedlings and buds that spent the winter whispering and hiding under the ground are ready to burst forth at the first sign of spring.
Heat destroyed their ancestors, and yet heat is what will call the sprouts back to the surface.
APRIL 15, 2025.
What was a burnt colorless scar less than a year ago is now draped in a darling blanket of purple.
A superbloom of Stork’s-bills has erupted, concentrated in the burn area.
APRIL 15, 2025.
The Burrowing Owls have started a new nest elsewhere on the island, but a Chukar makes his way through the bloom, finding high points to croon from.
Life evolved alongside wildfires for hundreds of millions of years. Like a cleanse, fires wipe out the old growth and allow new plants to take hold. A reduction in competition, an increase in light, and an uptick in nutrients in the soil create ideal conditions for the underdogs to come out and play.
APRIL 15, 2025.
But reminders of the old guard still show themselves, charcoal ghosts among their own funeral flowers.
