DIRECT EFFECTS OF FIRE ON ENDANGERED MOUNT GRAHAM RED SQUIRRELS

Abstract

Direct mortality of forest wildlife due to fire is rarely documented. In June and July 2004, the Nuttall Complex Fire burned 11,898 ha in the Pinaleno Mountains, southeastern Ari- zona. Portions of these mountains serve as the only habitat of endangered Mount Graham red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis). Survival of radio-collared red squirrels over a pe- riod that included the fire was lower in areas that were burned than on unburned areas; however, the majority of squirrels on our study areas survived the fire. Distance of nests from middens did not differ between pre-fire and post-fire periods for animals in burned or unburned areas, indi- cating that squirrels did not abandon middens immediately after surviving the effects of fire.