Tag Archives: burned

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin

Rabbitbrush, Ghost Forest

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Rabbitbrush, Ghost Forest
“Rabbitbrush, Ghost Forest” — Rabbibrush blooms near a ghost forest of burned ponderosa pines, Mono Basin.

On a late-September morning I headed out into country near Mono Lake, eventually turning off the two-late highway to follow a random gravel track that traced the edge of an extraordinarily large ponderosa pine forest. This area within sight of Mono Lake was burned in a forest fire years ago, and there are still lots of dead trees around the fringe of the forest. The stark beauty of the skeletal trees intrigued me, and I eventually found a place to stop and explore a bit.

This is an austere landscape. Even where the trees still grow there is a lot of space between them, likely due to the dry environment. In many places there is only sagebrush country, and in this spot the sandy soil supports even less vegetation. But it the middle of this — and against the backdrop of those dead trees — rabbitbrush plants were in full, colorful bloom.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Where Once a Forest Stood

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Where Once a Forest Stood
The skeletons of ponderosa pines at the edge of high desert.

Where Once a Forest Stood. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

The skeletons of ponderosa pines at the edge of high desert.

Today I interrupt the stream of photos from our European travels (“Finally!,” a few of you say…) to share something from my first return to the Sierra and points east since we got home. The European trip was great — and I look forward to more like it — but I missed my mountains! There’s a lot more to write about that and about getting back “out there,” but I will save most of it for later posts.

On this morning I was camped above 9000′ in the Eastern Sierra, but I decided (for reasons including deteriorating weather) to head out along the eastern slopes of the range to photograph in the early light. After some less-than-satisfying photography of the eastern escarpment (wildfire smoke was an issue) I headed out into the high desert near Mono Lake and then into a remarkable grove of ponderosa pines, one of the largest (perhaps the largest) in existence. I was aware of the results of a wildfire here years ago, and I wanted to photograph the remains of burned forest, so I turned off on an unmarked route and ended up here, where dead trees still stand starkly against the desert landscape.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Burned Forest

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Burned Forest
A Yosemite National Park forest beginning its post-wildfire recovery..

Burned Forest. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A Yosemite National Park forest beginning its post-wildfire recovery..

This photograph comes from Yosemite National Park, and not far from the current wildfire in the Mariposa Grove area. There are “good fires” and “bad fires” — the former tend to burn loose stuff on the forest floor along with some small trees and other plants, while the later burn hot and climb into the crowns of the trees and often killing them. Most of the trees in a healthy forest will survive the good fires, but increasingly the forests are now faced with bad fires that cause tremendous destruction. A quick scan around this photograph reveals some dead young trees but also some remaining green branches that likely mark a tree that is going to survive.

Photographing wildfire sites has long been a challenge for me. Many years ago I simply regarded wildfires as evil, but today my view is more nuanced, and I accept that some fire occurs in healthy forests and, in fact, is necessary and good. The challenge photographically has been to see these scenes as being subjects for beautiful photography rather than just as destruction.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Coastal Lagoon, Burned Hills

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Coastal Lagoon, Burned Hills
A coastal lagoon between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, backed by distant burned hills.

Coastal Lagoon, Burned Hills. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A coastal lagoon between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, backed by distant burned hills.

This is a photograph that tells a story, one that may not be immediately apparent. But once you see it you may connect it to a larger story affecting California and the west right now, a story that is beginning to affect the entire planet it concerning ways. It is a photograph of a small lagoon along the Pacific Coast Highway just north of Santa Cruz, California. This is a place I have visited for years — decades, actually — and it is usually a lovely, bucolic landscape. I made the photograph in spring, and even during this very dry year the vegetation is thick and lush and the lagoon remains wet, supporting plant and animal life.

But take a closer look at the ridge in the distance. It belongs to what we loosely refer to as the “Santa Cruz Mountains,” the range lying between the South San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The top of the ridge is covered with… the black remnants of a forest that was destroyed in last year’s tremendous lightning-causes wildfires. In places near this location the fire burned almost all the way to the ocean. Fires have always been part of the California environment, but what has happened in the past few years is unsustainable. Due to drought and high temperatures linked to human caused global climate change, the state is incredibly dry and any fire, even the sort that would have been quickly extinguished in the past, can take off and quickly get out of control.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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