A Journey Unveiled in the Angeles National Forest

August 26, 2009. I was forty something, I'd made and lost my fortune in real estate, and had no real sense of direction. I needed to do some soul searching. Make some goals. Stop thinking about what I'd lost and embrace the fact I was free to make a new life for myself. I vaguely thought I would like to be more involved in the arts. I looked out across the lofty view from the master bedroom of a vintage 1900 home on Mount Wilson that I didn't own. What a magical place to work and live. But there was no future there for me. That had become increasingly clear since I'd moved there the previous November.

Word of the fire came. You could see it from the parking lot, about half a mile from the house. It wasn't big. But it was situated in a canyon several miles below us, and that was not far enough away for comfort. Mid morning the next day, it erupted. Everyone knew...you could just feel it...this was going to be a big, bad fire.

I was one of the first people to evacuate. I would be one of the few people to return to live full-time in the forest after the fire. With no electricity. Closed roads. No work. For a time, no water and no telephone. It was crazy. But there was no way I was going to leave the forest. It had been radically altered, yes. Transformed. Torched. And if everything I had ever been taught about fire was true, it would also rebound, regrow, recover.

I had to stay. I had to know.

The Station Fire burned a quarter of the mature conifer forest in the Angeles, and the public reaction was emotional and strong. But much...in fact most...of that reaction was not based on any sort of ecological knowledge. It was based on fear, anger, loss, and the belief that the forest had been irreparably damaged.

The Forest Recovery Project began late in 2009, an independent effort to document the natural recovery of the forest; a recovery that began in many places as soon as the ground cooled. With the forest closed for public safety (the Angeles is notoriously steep and the surface geologic composition is largely loose ravel to begin with, made much more loose by the absence of surface plant growth) the recovery of the forest was not something that most Angelinos could experience, and which few understood.

The Forest Recovery Project sought to capture the regeneration of life from an organic and artistic standpoint, "blurring the lines of art and science" and being a voyage of discovery rather than a didactic monologue.

The images within the galleries are mine. The descriptions are also mine, for better or for worse. I began the editing shortly after a car accident in 2011 that left my verbal and written syntax a little askew. Okay maybe more than a little. In the beginning I tried to identify every plant. I gave that up. It's not my strong suite. If I have a relationship with a species, I remember its name, I know its character. If not, it's very hard for me to recall names from one minute to the next. Scientific (latin) names are also really the only ones that cannot be misconstrued, and I know just one latin plant name and two latin animal names.

The Forest Recovery Project was conceived in the aftermath of the Station Fire of 2009. The largest wild land fire to date in the history of Los Angeles County, it took homes and lives, and 160,577 acres of wilderness, most of it in the Angeles National Forest. Two Los Angeles County firefighters died in the line of duty. Millions "lost" their mountain playground. But it wasn't really lost. It was altered. Fire is an integral part of the long term life cycle of natural ecosystems.

I began giving public presentations in 2010, one year after the fire, and have been doing so ever since. My hope is two-fold; that I can offer people some comfort, hope and appreciation of the natural cycle of life, and that I can improve the safety of first responders by educating residents and forest visitors about fire-safe practices. If I can help people understand how to protect their own lives and property in the urban interface, a firefighter's job is more likely to be successful, and less dangerous.

Many organizations and individuals have supported this effort, including Southern California Edison/Edison International, the JiJi Foundation, Ralphs/Food4Less, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The Haven Foundation, California Native Plant Society, Kevin McKinder, Ralph Ortiz, Robert Torres, Scott Brown, Erli Bittencourt, Holly and Randy MacLaren, Dan Bond, Cheri Howlett, Debra Gottschalk Delahunty, Mark Beaulieu, Michael McIntyre, Chad Pansini, Roger Klemm, SmugMug, Toyota Motor Corporation, L.A. County Fire Division of Forestry Chief John Todd, Deputy Chief J. Lopez, Jose Martinez, L.A. County Fire Captains Ray Mitcheson and Bob Goldman, Maria Muriello, Hooman Salari, Leslie Miller, Julia Houser, A.C. Arch, Patricia Seymour, Facebook, Frank Catticochio, Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center, Joseph Villa (God bless and keep you), The Flintridge Foundation, Larry Lopez, Todd Smith, Dr. Richard Schneider, Johnine Peterson, Gary and Lori Fuller, Mary McDaniel, E.J. Gallo Winery Inc., PAR Electric, Jamie Sullo, James Lorrigan, Starbucks, Ray Rivera, Les and Ruth Dios, Dan Corvin, Michael Reifel, Michael O'Hair, Mari Martin, Robert Owens Greygrass (happy hunting brother), Dan Running Bear, Wayne Scott, Mitch Brown, Shelley Owen, Jeff Zimmerman, Joe Peduto, USFS Battalion Chief Chris St. Pierre, USFS Fuels Battalion Chief Scott Lowden, USFS Resource Manager Steve Bear, Gary Pickett, Gabriel Baptista, The Taricco Corporation, Steve Golden, David J. Cline, Demetri, Tigger...and doubtlessly, others whose names escape me and whom I have yet to meet on this beautiful and soulful journey.

The images, arranged by year and then month, can be viewed here:

https://forest-recovery-projec...

The parent organization making all of this possible is Redbird, a 501(c)(3) Native American and environmental non profit association, founded in 1994. We have five main program areas, of which the Forest Recovery Project is one. Learn more about our mission, our signature event, The Children of Many Colors Native American Powwow, who we are, what we do and how you can be a part of it at www.RedbirdsVision.org