The Swan Range

MILEPOST 59 - Doris Lake

Doris Lake
Copyright 2005, James R. Conner, all rights reserved

A grizzly bear nurses her twin cubs. Researchers found bears use
burned forests more than unburned forests when young and tender
bear foods become well established in the second year after fire.

Logs decked in 2005 along the Doris Creek Road after being cut from nearby forest burned in 2003.

Many wildfires burned along the eastern slope of the Swan Crest during the dry summer of 2003, including the Doris Creek area. Shrubs such as willow sprouted that fall and wildflowers like fireweed came back the following summer. Many birds, such as the northern hawk owl and the black-backed woodpecker, live in old burns, so you may see birds in these areas you won’t see elsewhere. Certain trees, like whitebark pine, also need periodic fires to survive.