It may take years for Prospect Park wildlife to return after area torched by NYC brush fire: experts

The two-acre wooded stretch of Prospect Park has been eerily quiet in the week since it was torched by a shocking bush-fire.Scores of squirrels, birds, raccoons, skunks and other critters that call the Brooklyn oasis home were forced to flee the burned sector — and it could take years for them to return, according to wildlife experts.“Wildfires cause wildlife to move; they’ll avoid active flames and, if the damage is severe, will seek new habitats for food and shelter,” Sunny Corrao, the public engagement coordinator for the city Department of Parks and Recreation’s Wildlife Unit told The Post.None of the animals inhabiting the area near the ravine and adjoining meadow known as Nethermead meadow at the center of the park were reported to have been injured in the Nov.8 inferno, which law enforcement officials suspect was sparked by a homeless encampment.

The majority of the wildlife creatures who escaped the blaze unscathed may have dispersed throughout Prospect Park’s remaining 524 lush acres — or may have made an exodus from the green space entirely in search of new homes, Corrao said.It may take years, however, before the displaced critters return to the once lush ravine spot that is now blackened and torched.Animals would return when they’re able to seek food and shelter in the two-acre stretch again.“If there’s still trees standing, you’re still going to get your flying insects and your birds,” Corrao explained, citing general wildlife behavior.But if a lot of the understory — or underlying layer of vegetation above the forest floor — was burned away, “you’re not going to have animals that use that as cover.

So you’re not going to have your small mammals in those areas,” Corrao said.Christian Zimmerman, the vice president of Capital and Landscape Management for the Prospect Park Alliance, said it may take up to three years of planting — followed by long-term care — before forestry workers can bring the urban oasis back ...