The lush, unburned Douglas fir forests on the wet west slopes of the Cascade Range, where our project sites are located, are alive with many shades of green. Lichens and mosses drape over the trees; shrubs, herbs, and ferns cover the forest floor.

Initial stages of the 2020 fires burned with a blizzard of embers driven by fierce east winds, rapidly torching the understory and burning up here and there into the tree crowns. With the understory completely stripped away, the skeletal forest appeared, evoking a sense of loss and tragedy, but also revealing a stark, black beauty.

The skeletal state of the forest revealed details of its structure, evidence of forest history and hints about its future.

The story of color returning to the forest begins with the scorched needles in the tops of Douglas fir and western redcedar trees. Within a week the golden needles fell to blanket the ash-gray forest floor.

A green sheen of fire moss quickly appeared in areas of mineral soil not covered by the needlecast. The moss gradually matured to fuzzy orange carpets of sporophytes. In summer 2021 lush patches of green fireweed reached head-high and exploded with brilliant purple flowers, which then released clouds of white seeds.

Physical processes also brought color back to the skeletal forest; fractured wood and shed bark revealed the yellow and orange of exposed wood; crumbling rotten logs offered their deep, red-brown promise to nurture the soil.

The wild diversity of returning colors signaled the great diversity of returning life that will build the next forest.

The return of color marks the return of life in many forms. Bigleaf maple trees were especially vigorous in sprouting from their bases. Many understory plants were completely burned away above ground, but in the soil their root structures were protected and insulated from the fire. Within two months these intact, but unseen, root systems burst forth with green, leafy vibrance that was easy to see in the monochromatic landscape. Ferns and even delicate oxalis (sorrel) were among the first to sprout. Fire-adapted species – fire fungi, fire moss, fire weed – quickly established from propagules in the soil and widely dispersed spores and seed.

These many forms of life and the organic matter they contribute to the forest floor helped stabilize the soil, attract other organisms, and build the nutrient and carbon capital to support the nascent food web in the next forest. As the organic layer developed, we began to see insects, hear birds, and find scat, all indications of a healthy complexity.

Tree seedlings took root, even in the first year – a sign of the forest to come.