Friday, March 28, 2008
Story of a fire
I'm in Wisconsin right now, but I am monitoring the snowpack in the Montana mountains anxiously. If the spring runoff is too early, this will increase the chances of a bad fire season. I am hoping we don't have the same experience as last year...see the sequence below.
The next series of photos will show a tale of destruction and partial rejuvenation. The smoke you see here is from the Jocko Lakes wildfire, which flared up in August, 2007 in the Mission Mountains just a few miles south of Seeley Lake, Montana.
The devastation caused by these sudden, violent firestorms can be seen for miles.
In October of 2007, we drove along the Jocko Lakes Road and saw thousands of acres of this scenery.
The only sign of animal life we saw was this dog team, running along the deserted road.
Where little waterholes existed, the view was not quite so barren. We could see a bit of greenery beginning to show under the dead brown grass.
It was heartening to see that green shoots of beargrass were appearing out of the Jocko Lakes Fire's charred ground.
Despite these reassuring signs of healing, the damage done by the Jocko Lakes Fire will not be healed in our lifetime. Our Earth is an infinitely fragile place.
The next series of photos will show a tale of destruction and partial rejuvenation. The smoke you see here is from the Jocko Lakes wildfire, which flared up in August, 2007 in the Mission Mountains just a few miles south of Seeley Lake, Montana.
The devastation caused by these sudden, violent firestorms can be seen for miles.
In October of 2007, we drove along the Jocko Lakes Road and saw thousands of acres of this scenery.
The only sign of animal life we saw was this dog team, running along the deserted road.
Where little waterholes existed, the view was not quite so barren. We could see a bit of greenery beginning to show under the dead brown grass.
It was heartening to see that green shoots of beargrass were appearing out of the Jocko Lakes Fire's charred ground.
Despite these reassuring signs of healing, the damage done by the Jocko Lakes Fire will not be healed in our lifetime. Our Earth is an infinitely fragile place.
Labels: Jocko Lakes Fire, Montana
