Yukon Wildlife and Wildfire
Wildfire can leave a landscape looking like a lifeless moonscape, but the forest isn’t dead. Beneath the blackened stumps and charred ground, new life emerges. Equipped with field guides, binoculars and a healthy dose of curiosity, Carrie and Karen, intrepid naturalists with the Government of Yukon’s Wildlife Viewing Program, trek through post-fire landscapes to see what’s sprouting, who’s passing through and why it all matters for the boreal forest.
Episodes
4 episodes
Takhini Valley Fire: Burnt pines and forest signs
The charred trees Carrie and Karen see in the Takhini Valley are relics from a fire almost 70 years ago. The boreal forest is not a place of rapid change. This area abounds with Lodgepole Pine, which only the most determined animals can get int...
Fox Lake Fire: Aspen, Hare we come
The Fox Lake Fire of 1998 burned all summer. Almost 30 years later, the leafy forest growing back provides food and shelter for Snowshoe Hare (including a wrong-coloured one hiding from Carrie and Karen) and all the animals that eat hare — whic...
After the fire: The plants came back
The boreal forest and wildfire tell a story of resilience that stretch deep in time. Wandering through a fresh burn, Karen and ecologist Jill Johnstone unearth clues about the forest’s future. They investigate tree corpses and itty-bitty plants...
Takhini Bridge Fire: Hoo is there?
Wildfire can be destructive, but that’s not the whole story. When two naturalists with the Yukon Wildlife Viewing Program walk into the 2023 Takhini Bridge Fire burn, it feels apocalyptic. But on closer examination, Carrie and Karen see grasses...
