FOLLOWING FIRE: A Resilient Forest / An Uncertain Future
A long term inquiry by photographer David Paul Bayles and disturbance ecologist Frederick J Swanson
In September 2020, the Holiday Farm Fire, driven by fierce east winds, burned 173,000 acres along the forested McKenzie River canyon in the Cascade Range of Oregon. Two months later, we began a photography project to document the stark beauty of the burned forest and its vibrant response to fire.
Our collaboration combined David’s artistic sense of form and color and Fred’s scientific focus on the biological and physical processes shaping forest history and the forest’s future.
A fresh view of fire and forests emerged based on dozens of site visits. This project employs a variety of photographic approaches, including fine art, documentary, chronosequences (tracking change over time), and typologies (groups of images of single subjects), to highlight unique qualities of the blackened landscape.
Because conditions of a forest at the time of fire influence forest response, we worked in two areas: Finn Rock Reach, including the site of a former logging camp along the river, and Blue River Conservation Easement, a drier, upland forest site. These are lands presently owned by McKenzie River Trust, which kindly gave us permission to carry out this work.
Photographs and text weave a complex story of forest resilience in the face of growing challenges and uncertainties. Despite headlines describing the forest as “incinerated” and “vaporized,” vast amounts of carbon and nutrients were retained, allowing abundant plant life to spring forth over the first few growing seasons. This gives us hope. However, the future forest must contend with profound uncertainties: accelerating climate change, invasive species, other legacies of past land use, and on-going intensive forest management.
A video introduction to our project.
DavidPaulBayles.com
Thank you for your interest in this project. For more information about David’s many other tree/forest related photographic projects please visit David Paul Bayles main website LEARN MORE