Wildlife and the Wallow Fire

Cow Elk and Calf in Eagle Creek Riparian

June 15

Wallow fire is still burning – but not on Eagle Creek or the Double Circle. We do have smoke. Even Clifton and Morenci 35 miles south of us have smoke alert notices for poor visibility and health issues.

I wonder how the wildlife is doing? We seem to have more mule deer and Javelina than common along Eagle Creek. Also there are lots of whitetail deer in the higher parts of the ranch. No one can go in the backcountry, so I can’t say how much wildlife has drifted south ahead of Wallow fire for sure. Along the roads it does seem that more deer have migrated here. They will be safe along the Eagle Creek riparian. We have several herds of elk too – but that isn’t uncommon. The antelope tend to stay here in the grassland year round so they will be fine as long as the fire breaks hold.

I hope we don’t lose a lot of wildlife to this fire. I expect newborns and small animals will fare the worse. The critters are another loss from Wallow Fire that is hard to estimate. Besides, who can put a value on loss of life?