Forest fires really do benefit spotted owls

It may seem counterintuitive, but forest fires are actually beneficial to spotted owls, according to a new study.

The findings offer a follow-up to a 2018 paper in the journal Ecosphere, in which Derek Lee, associate professor of biology at Penn State, analyzed the results from every published scientific study about the effects of wildfire on the threatened birds. The earlier findings had important implications for management of forests that spotted owls inhabit, which had assumed that fire is a major threat to the owls.

In the new study, also published in Ecosphere, Lee responds to several criticisms of his 2018 paper. After reanalyzing the data according to suggestions, he came to the same conclusions: Wildfires either have no effect or a positive effect on most parameters.

Here, he talks about his research and why his finding suggest that current conservation forest management practices critically need an update:

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