The burn...

A year and a half after a wildfire in the Columbia Gorge, we hiked along the ridge between Wahkeena Falls and Multnomah Falls stunned by the beauty of the new growth on the forest floor. Stretches of “Miners Lettuce,” a slope swathed in blue Delphinium, striking orange Columbines, lush new growth at the base of burned Maples..,.the glory of rebirth, and a deeper understanding of the need for forest management practices that include controlled burns, unlike this one ignited by someone careless with fireworks.