OUTDOOR    AMERICA 
Fire in the Sanctuary 
(Continued from page 7) 
 
fighting fires in 1926 on the Kaniksu For- 
est, found several Franklin and ruffed 
grouse that had been killed by the fire, also 
others badly burned which probably died 
later. Ranger Casler says,--"I saw   a 
Franklin grouse with feet badly scorched 
and heard reports of blue grouse rising into 
the air before the fire and then circling 
back into the dense smoke and heat. When 
a fire burns hard over a large area, I be- 
lieve that the small game is practically ex- 
terminated on that area." 
Supervisor Humphrey who was also on 
the Lost Johnny Creek fire on the Flathead 
Forest in 1926, reports that "a great many 
grouse that had died from the effects of 
the fire were found. In fact the fire fight- 
ers reported finding dead grouse almost 
daily. Supervisor Shepard of the Wasatch 
(who was on the Flathead at that time) 
and I found a dead grouse. Its feet had 
been burned, and very likely breathing the 
heated air had killed it." Forest Super- 
visor Guy B. Mains, of the Boise Forest, 
Idaho, reports, "in 19o5, I saw a covey of 
young blue grouse caught in burning brush 
and killed by a forest fire. I have seen two 
nests of grouse eggs on the Middle Fork 
of Payette River roasted in early spring 
fires."  Harvey  H. Steed   of Auburn, 
Wyoming, says that while he was fighting 
fire on Stump Creek several years ago, he 
came across a covey of blue grouse almost 
completely surrounded by fire. As they at- 
tempted to fly away, their wings were 
singed and they dropped into the fire and 
were destroyed; not one escaped. This was 
a small fire. 
E. N. Kavanagh, of the Forest Service 
office in Portland, Oregon, had charge of a 
large fire in the northern part of the Chelan 
Forest, in Washington, in 1926. He reports 
that one day, after he had started a back- 
fire, a grouse suddenly flew out of the burn- 
ing area.  Soon he heard distinctly the 
"cheep, cheep" of young grouse beyond the 
wall of flame. The mother bird who lit in 
a tree nearby, evidently heard the cries of 
distress, and flew back through the smoke 
and heat to her doomed brood and the 
flames swept on to the top of the ridge. 
From the East comes a report from State 
Ranger C. B. Arthur of the West Virginia 
forestry organization, who while fighting 
forest fires near Tamroy in that State, 
found two quail nests destroyed. One nest 
contained fifteen eggs and the other ten. 
Undoubtedly, many a bob-white nest, as 
 
well as young quail, is destroyed in the 
South by the spring "old field" fires, either 
accidentally or purposely set out. 
I recall having been told years ago by fire 
fighters in the White Mountains of north- 
ern Arizona of their finding wild turkey 
eggs in the nests roasted by the very early 
spring fires which sometimes used to. occur 
through carelessness of the stockmen in 
that part of the State. 
An unusual instance is reported by For- 
est Supervisor James E. Ryan, of the 
Blackfeet Forest, who says that on the Hay 
Creek fire in 1926, three mallard ducks 
were found about half-way up Cyclone 
Peak with their feet and wings burned, but 
still alive. It was his belief that the ducks 
had become confused or perhaps partly suf- 
focated by the smoke and forced to alight, 
accidently in a cool spot where they were 
not burned to death. 
Supervisor Mains of Idaho, reports that 
in i916, he saw on the South Fork of the 
Payette River a rabbit which had been 
killed by a forest fire. Ranger John T. 
Marsh reports finding in an Idaho fire a 
rabbit that had been killed and several 
others which were badly burned. He says 
those that he saw which had survived the 
fire were very poor, doubtless from lack of 
food. Ranger L. M. Beard tells about fire 
killing two rabbits in 1926, his report read- 
ing: "On the Tumbledown fire of the past 
season I noted two rabbits that had been 
burned. The only reason these were seen 
was due to the fact that they had run out 
of the thick brush and taken refuge in a 
small park where the fire trail passed. 
They were, in all probability, seen very 
shortly after they had succumbed, as the 
hair was burned to the skin and the body 
still had a pinkish tint." 
I recall as a small boy one spring in Vir- 
ginia when I set fire to a field of brooms- 
edge, of how the flames raced away from 
me, leaped the rail fence and on into the 
pine woods of a neighbor. Of how squeals 
of cottontail rabbits came to me, powerless- 
then, from the burning fence corners as 
these defenseless animals were trapped and 
burned up by the fire. It was an experience 
I shall never forget. 
It is certain that many squirrels perish in 
forest fires, but the only specific case avail- 
able is one of injury, reported by Super- 
visor Humphrey from the Lost Johnny 
Creek fire, mentioned several times pre- 
viously here. On this fire a number of pine 
 
squirrels were seen with feet so badly 
burned they could not climb trees. 
One would not ordinarily think of forest 
fires directly affecting fish. Not only do 
forest fires destroy the protective covering 
of mountain watersheds, thereby often re- 
sulting in silt and boulder-filled stream- 
beds, and the drying up of springs, sources 
of streams; but large fires often actually 
kill fish in the streams themselves. Here 
are specific instances. 
Men who fought fires on the Coeur 
d'Alene Forest in 191o, report that on Lost 
Creek the stream was so filled with ashes, 
charred timber and coals, that the water 
became heated to such a degree that it killed 
all the fish for a distance of seven miles, 
and large quantities of dead fish were seen 
where drifts had been formed. 
Mrs. B. K. Monroe, whose husband was 
a ranger on the Selway Forest, says,-"The 
sight of scores of dead fish strewed along 
the banks of the Selway River in Idaho, 
was common enough in i91o,-zhundreds of 
trout and whitefish, as well as young 
salmon, had been killed far back in the 
mountains and their bodies washed down- 
stream with the burned wood and debris 
of the big fires.-It was not an uncommon 
sight to see bears ambling along the river 
banks feasting on the dead fish." 
Ranger Skillman reported that all the 
fish within the burn of i9io, in White Pine 
Creek on the Cabinet Forest, were killed 
by the fire. A fire fighter on the Lost 
Johnny Creek fire reported seeing dead fish 
floating in Riverside Creek; this in 1926. 
Assistant Supervisor John H. Clack of 
the Missoula Forest, says,-"While riding 
through the Hahn Creek drainage imme- 
diately after the Babcock fire (Flathead 
Forest) I saw a number of black-spotted 
trout lying in the shallow waters of the 
creek. I estimated at the time that there 
were at least 75 and possibly as many as 
ioo dead fish in sight, along about three 
miles of the stream. I was unable to ascer- 
tain when these fish had been killed, and 
whether by heat or from ashes falling into 
the stream, for the reason that the fire was 
still burning and the falling timbers made it 
impossible for me to leave my horse in 
order to make an examination." 
In May, I919, Ranger John R. Smith of 
the Boise Forest, Idaho, reported that he 
found thousands of dead cut-throat trout 
in the creek above Smith Lake after a hot 
forest fire had burned over the area. The 
trout were spawning in the creek at the 
time and as there was heavy brush along 
the creek, making a hot fire, he believed 
the fish had been killed by this fire. 
From far-off Alaska also comes testi- 
mony against fires as they affect game and 
(Continued on page 42) 
 
It will be from 50 to 100 years before the forest will reclothe these mountain
slopes. 
Photo by U. S. ForestService.