Green-up boosts deer in aftermath of Carlton fires

WILDLIFE — While Washington wildlife officials have decided to feed deer this winter near Pateros to keep them from ravaging agricultural areas, the wildfires of 2014 are not forcing the feeding of other deer herds in the formerly charred lands in Okanogan region.

Rain and mild weather have combined this fall to provide a good “green-up” on the lands charred by the Carlton Complex fires, said Madonna Luers, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman in Spokane.

The photo above, she said, “represents well why we’re NOT feeding widespread.”