Land of Fire

Land of File Fire has always been part of the ecology of California. Native peoples used fire to encourage specific plants and animals and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Some plants need fire to regenerate. Land management agencies ended this destruction and rebirth cycle in the 20th century due to the belief that all fires were bad. Recently burning has been reintroduced for land management in some areas, but it was too late for Lava Beds National Monument. In 2020 a large portion of the park burned from a fire caused by a lightning strike. The trees in Lavabeds evolved to survive small fires. Due to the overgrowth of the understory of vegetation and stress from climate change, many of the trees died. In this series, I try and capture how fire has created and affected the landscape.