Large wildfires are becoming increasingly frequent in California with an average of >1,000,000 acres burned in each of the last five years. While studies have explored the impacts of fire on wildlife, they often occur years after the fire when vegetation has regrown. Bobcats may be particularly sensitive to severe wildfires as they prefer dense cover for hunting, denning, and raising young. To measure bobcat’s response immediately post-fire we re-deployed a 40km2 camera grid two months after the Park Fire burned significant portions of California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Tehama Wildlife Area in 2024, where we previously had deployed the same camera grid in 2021 (pre-fire). Deploying cameras soon after the fire allowed us to measure bobcat habitat use and distribution prior to vegetation regrowth and during the next seven months as the vegetation began to regrow. We used occupancy models to compare bobcat distribution pre- and post-fire, across a gradient of burn severities, and over time. This study fills a crucial gap in how bobcats respond to large and severe wildfires immediately after the fire and as they adapt to a changing environment as the vegetation and wildlife community recovers and potentially changes.

Alexandra Avrin is an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife bobcat team studying bobcat populations state-wide. She previously worked on the CDFW drought team protecting critical water sources in Northern California. She received her Master's from the University of Illinois and BS from Colorado State University. She has 15 years of experience working in 5 states and 3 countries on a wide variety of taxa, but mammalian carnivores are her passion.