'The Chap' bouncing back after fire

Two months after a wildfire incinerated approximately 95 percent ofthe famed Chaparral Wildlife Management Area in South Texas, statewildlife scientists continue assessing the impact to the15,000-acre tract in Dimmit and La Salle counties.
And while monetary damages to the Chaparral's infrastructure areconsiderable (estimated at more than a half-million dollars) andthe face of the land greatly altered, the area's wildlifepopulation appears to have weathered the fire surprisingly well.
"Considering the intensity of the fire and that 95 percent of thearea burned, wildlife mortality was very light," Chaparral WMAmanager David Synatzske said in a recent briefing to the TexasParks and Wildlife Commission.
In that briefing, Synatzske and Len Polasek, regional director ofthe Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's wildlife division,described the fire, its effects and the status of projects aimed atcontinuing the Chaparral's history as one of the state's premieroutdoor research and demonstration laboratories focused on holisticmanagement of land and the animals living on it.
The wildfire, which began March 14, burned for two days andconsumed more than 65,000 acres, or more than 100 square miles.
The fire was incredibly intense and destructive because of the"unprecedented" fuel load (grasses and other combustible organicmaterial) on which it fed, Synatzske said.
An unusually wet 2007 produced a carpet of grasses and othervegetation thicker and more expansive than many people in theregion could remember, he said.
Also, because many ranchers had pulled cattle off their land in thewake of a brutal drought in 2006 and had yet to restock, much ofthat vegetation had not been grazed.
Lack of rain through winter and early spring dried that jungle ofvegetation and set the stage for a wildfire. Fuel loads on much ofthe land in the area were as much as 17,000 pounds per acre, and9,000 pounds of fuel per acre were common, Synatzske said.
The average fuel load in the region in a "normal" year is closer to3,000 pounds.
Fed with so much fuel, a stiff wind and low (7 percent) humidity,the wildfire produced intense heat. 'It just melted everything' "It just melted everything down," said Polasek, who raced to thearea from his Rockport office when he got word of the fire and wasthere as it burned.
Photos taken during and immediately after the fire showed parts ofthe deer-proof perimeter fence surrounding the 23-plus-square-mileChaparral WMA melted into thin strings of metal.
What had been near impenetrable, vibrant whitebrush thickets on the"Chap" looked like moonscapes. The fire vaporized most of thebrush, leaving only scattered, thin, charred black fingers pokinghere and there from ground covered with several inches of gray ash.
While brave and smart action by the skeleton crew of Chaparral WMAstaff who were on the area at the time of the fire saved theresidences and most of the other structures, much of the area'sinfrastructure was destroyed.
The most costly damage to the Chaparral was to the perimeter andinterior fences. Almost all of the fencing will have to bereplaced, at an estimated cost of a half-million dollars, Synatzskesaid.
The fire destroyed the Chaparral's research building; replacing itwill run about $100,000.
Replacing fire-consumed public access infrastructure  things suchas ADA-compliant wildlife viewing blinds and hunting blinds used inthe Chaparral WMA's incredibly popular public hunting programs will run another $15,000 or more.
Replacing equipment (trailers, tractor tires, signs, etc.) willcost an estimated $5,000.
Immediately after the fire was out, more than two dozen staffersfrom TPWD wildlife division offices across the state raced to theChaparral to begin patching the crucial perimeter fencing,assessing damage and setting up projects to monitor the fire'simpacts on the land and its wildlife and gauge the recovery.
One of the first things staff noticed was the lack of deadwildlife.
"We did not see the mortality we expected," Synatzske said.
While the fire eventually burned 95 percent of the WMA, it did itin piecemeal fashion. That appears to have allowed mobile wildlifespecies to move out of the fire's path and slip around behind it,he said.
TPWD staff counted "fewer than 40" fire-killed white-tailed deer,three dead horned lizards and some snakes, Synatzske said. Loss ofslower-moving or smaller animals  tortoises, rats, mice, rabbits,etc.  probably was higher, but evidence of those losses almostcertainly was consumed by the intense heat of the fire.
Since the fire, TPWD staff members have seen considerable andvaried wildlife in the burned area. And in an aerial survey of theChaparral WMA conducted within a week of the fire, TPWD staffcounted 59 whitetails on the area.
"That's about a deer to 25 acres," Synatzske said. "That's notbad." Deer in good shape Two months after the fire, those deer appear to be in surprisinglygood physical condition. TPWD staff has been studying deer in thearea, looking at body condition and food habits. As expected,prickly pear has been the main forage consumed by the deer  thecactus is about the only edible vegetation not destroyed by thefire.
A couple of good rains and a few lesser sprinkles have fallen onthe charred Chaparral WMA since the fire, and the land, aspredicted, is responding with new growth of grasses and otherground-hugging vegetation.
If the area can maintain soil moisture either through regular rainsor a fairly mild summer, ground cover should be good, as shouldproduction of seed-bearing grasses and other plants.
That abundance of small seeds, along with a more open landscape,could mean the Chaparral sees lots of use by doves. And Synatzskebelieves the Chap could provide good dove hunting later this year.
Along with being one of the state's premier wildlife-centeredresearch areas, the Chaparral WMA has had an incredibly popularpublic hunting program, with thousands of hunters annually vyingfor special-permit hunts for deer and javelina or making trips tothe area for low-cost/high quality public hunting for quail anddove.
Despite the fire, the wildlife situation on the Chaparral WMA hasbeen deemed healthy enough to continue that public hunting program.Current plans are for the Chaparral to host public hunts for deer,doves and quail this autumn and winter.
shannon.tompkins@chron.com