The Ozette Prairies of Olympic National Park - Natural Resources ...

support their existing flora or parts of it (Clayton Antieau pers. comm. 2009; Graber 2003; Whitlock 1992).
Ecologist David Graber (2003:264) says that “moreover, applications of previously benign or positive
management practices, such as the relatively light and local burning programs Native Americans practiced
for many years...now may produce undesirable, less ‘natural’ outcomes, or may simply be inadequate
to mitigate anthropogenic stressors.”
It is unknown how the Makah copper and the Ozette skipper may respond to fire. The ecological
literature demonstrates that using fire to maintain prairie and wetland habitat for rare and endangered
butterflies can be either beneficial or detrimental to the populations of the insects (Black et al. 2009; Swengel
1996; Schultz and Crone 1998; Panzer 2002). We don’t know enough about these particular butterflies,
however, to assign them to either category.
Butterfly expert Robert Michael Pyle is against the reintroduction of fire in the Ozette Prairies, but
he recognizes the importance of open habitat for the welfare of the butterflies and recommends mechani-
cal removal of the trees:
Although major fire scars on the south sides of the large ‘cypress-like’ hemlocks
in S. Ahlstrom’s Prairie show that fire has been an ecological feature of the area, we
recommend against employing fire to reduce biomass on the Ozette Prairies. A large
body of evidence is building that indicates fire is hostile to butterfly populations unless
a large area of adjacent habitat remains unburned to permit refuge and recolonization.
The gentian, the violets, the copper, the skippers, and their host plants, bog cranberry
and grasses, will all be better served through small tree cutting than by fire, which
could extirpate them. On the other hand, fire at Roose’s homestead appears to represent
no threat, unless it escapes onto Roose’s Bog (R. Pyle and T. Pyle 2000).
Fire ecologist James Agee (pers. comm. 2009) says that:
Another alternative to consider in active management of the Ozette Prairies is
to mechanically remove the trees and then reintroduce fire to portions of the prairies
every few years. This should mitigate the butterfly impact and in the long run increase
habitat for them.
Bog ecologist Richard Hebda states:
There are multiple factors involved with tree encroachment on the Ozette Prairies
and yes absence of fire has likely played a role and grazing changes too. My recommendation
would be to do some limited experimental fires at the margins of one of the
wet areas and see what happens. Fire can have negative effects on wetlands increasing
nutrient fluxes, reducing rate of peat formation, especially in Sphagnum areas,
perhaps changing hydrology in the wetland itself so caution is warranted. Cutting
out the trees may also be an effective approach if the tree cover is the key element of the
hydrological processes.
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