The Fires of 1988
Facts
- The summer of 1988 was the driest in the Park's recorded history.
- More than 793,000 acres (36% of the park) were affected by fire.
- Fires begun outside of the park burned more than half the total acreage.
- Humans caused 9 fires; lightning caused 42 fires.
- About 300 large mammals, primary elk, perished.
- $120 million was spent and 25,000 people participated in this firefighting effort, the largest in U.S. history.
- This huge effort saved human life and property, but had little impact on the fires themselves.
- Rain and snow finally stopped the advance of the fires in September.
Aftermath
The 1988 fires created a mosaic of burns, partial burns, and unburned areas that provided new habitats for plants and animals and new realms for research. What scientists have learned:
- Fertile soil with good-water holding capacity and dense, diverse vegetation before the fire recovered quickly.
- Grasslands returned to pre-fire appearance within a few years.
- Many of the burned forests were mature lodgepole; this species is recolonizing most of the burned areas.
- The first seedlings of Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, Douglas-fir, and whitebark pine have emerged.
- Aspen reproduction has increased because fire stimulated the growth of suckers from the aspen's underground root system and left behind bare mineral soil that provides good conditions for aspen seedlings.
- Some of the grasses that elk eat were more nutritious after the fire.
- Bears graze more frequently at burned than unburned sites.
- The fires have had no observable impact on the number of grizzly bears in greater Yellowstone.
- Cavity-nesting birds, such as bluebirds, had more dead trees for their nests; birds dependent on mature forests, such as boreal owls, lost habitat.
- No fire-related effects have been observed in the fish populations or the angling experience in the six rivers that have been monitored regularly since 1988.
- Vegetation growth has slowed erosion in watersheds that had erosion and mudslides after the fires, such as the Gibbon River.
Yellowstone Fire Facts
- Large fires burn through forests of Yellowstone every 250 - 400 years.
- Large fires burn the park's grasslands every 25 - 60 years.
- Plants in the park, such as lodgepole pine and aspen, are adapt to fire.
- Lightning starts as average of 22 fires each year.
- 80% of naturally started fires go out by themselves.
- Suppressing fire reduces the number and variety of plant and animal species.
- Until the 1970s, park managers believed they had to extinguish fires to preserve park resources.
- Scientific research changed these beliefs and in 1972, Yellowstone began allowing most natural fires to burn.
- Between 1972 and 1987, 234 fires burned nearly 35,000 acres - most in two dry years, 1979 and 1981.
- The 1988 fires brought management changes and new opportunities for research.
- Yellowstone now follows the National Fire Plan described above.
Please check these links for more information on Yellowstone Fires
1988 Fires
