Managing Wildlife After a Wildfire

Wildlife 

Food, water, and shelter are the three basic habitat requirements that all wildlife species need for survival. Below are ways you can address each of these requirements to benefit wildlife after a wildfire. 

Supplementing food 

Before feeding wildlife, it is important to understand what their needs are. Our actions, often good intentions, can have negative impacts on the environment and wildlife behavior. Before supplementing food or water consider:  

Natural food 

  • Try to increase or enhance natural food sources.  
  • Water areas that encourage regrowth of native vegetation. In many cases, seed banks are already in the soil. 
  • Let wildlife naturally disperse to areas not affected by wildfire. This will allow for the vegetation to recover, after which wildlife will return.  
  • Wildlife populations that stay in a burned area will quickly eat any new plant regrowth, slowing or even stopping the recovery process.  

Supplemental food 

  • Do not provide supplemental food to wildlife in a habitat, or area, that cannot naturally support them. This can lead to populations exceeding carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is the maximum population size of a species that can be sustained with available resources (food, water, shelter).  
  • Species that exceed carrying capacity will experience starvation and disease.  
  • Populations that are nourished only through supplemental food will not get their complete nutritional needs. Deer corn has especially low nutritional value and should be avoided. We do not recommend feeding deer as they have a large impact on ecosystem health.  
  • Wildlife concentrated at feeders, especially those that are stressed by hunger or injured, have an increased risk of contracting and spreading disease.  
  • Providing supplemental food attracts feral hogs, raccoons, and other non-target animals. 

If you choose to provide supplemental food in anyway, reduce potential harm:  

  • Use an elevated gravity-type, free-choice feeder to feed protein pellets, soybeans, or other high protein content feed other than corn.  
  • Move feeders around periodically (every few days).  
  • Clean the feeder ports when refilling

Supplemental water 

If water resources are few and far between, provide supplemental water for multiple species:  

  • Provide ladders into and out of above-ground watering troughs. 
  • Ladders can be made from wire-mesh (14-gauge wire mesh with ¾” holes) or carefully stacked rocks (inside and out) creating a ramp. This will allow small animals and birds access to the water and a way to get out if they fall in. 
  • Bird baths can be kept full, and shallow trays of water can also be kept around in select locations. 

Shelter  

Shelter is an important resource for wildlife species. Providing concealment from predators as well as protection from the heat and cold. Help provide shelter: 

  • When removing dead standing trees that compromise safety or structures, stack them neatly away from structures to provide shelter. Stacking loosely enough that critters can get in and out easily, yet still have concealment. 
  • Leave dead-standing trees that don’t threaten safety or structures—they serve as a food source for woodpeckers and other insect-eating species and can also provide shelter for cavity-nesting birds and small mammals. 
  • Nest boxes can also be provided (with predator guards) for cavity-nesting birds and small mammals if no dead standing trees are available.  
  • Replanting native tree/shrub species (see Texas Tree Selector) to provide future screening cover. Avoid invasive species.  
  • Replant native grass/forb (weed) species to provide nesting cover for fawns and ground-nesting birds.  

Threatened and endangered species 

Texas has a variety of wildlife and plant species listed as threatened or endangered. Many of these species are being affected by human activity and the alteration of their environments.  

It is important to know what threatened or endangered species could be found on your property to provide them with the necessary resources during recovery.  

One endangered species that can be negatively affected by wildfire is the Houston Toad. For more information on wildlife management contact your Texas Parks and Wildlife county wildlife biologist. 

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