Blog: Fire in the Pines and Puddles
This blog, written during my work with The Nature Conservancy, shared my inspiration connecting landscapes in the long-leaf pine wetlands of Southern Louisiana to the dry evergreen forests of Central Washington. An excerpt:
Conservation firefighters at a prescribed burn in the longleaf pine forest of Louisiana. Photo by me.
Our surroundings offered constant reminder that we were hiking through a landscape-scale puddle. The preserve is marked by forests on low ridges that blend into wet savannas of broad swales. In the wide spaces between longleaf pines, pitcher plants snatch prey and tortoises burrow through tall grasses….
I was surprised to learn that longleaf pine forests in Louisiana share a prescription for health with our Washington Cascades. While we are evergreen and snow-prone, and the West Gulf Coastal Plain is grassy and wet, we both bear legacies of clear cuts, natural disruption and wildfire suppression.
