Forest management efforts designed to limit the severity and size of wildfires are increasing across the Southwest. A recent multi-agency study examined how fire versus thinning affects black bears across 1,400 square miles in New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains.

Bears were fitted with radio collars to track their habitat use in areas which had been recovering for varying lengths of time since a wildfire, prescribed burn, or thinning treatment. The researchers also looked at other important factors, like topography.

It turns out that ‘pyro diverse’ forests with a mosaic of differently-aged burns are good for bears. In spring and summer, they avoid forest that has been newly thinned or experienced high severity fire. They prefer areas that burned recently at low to moderate intensity, where the

See Full Page