Rural renewal

Forest fire burns
Away the old for new growth,
Rural renewal .
Haiku 26 June 2010

The climax forest, here in the interior of Alaska, is the spruce. It has little undergrowth and supports very little life.

A lightning strike, a raging fire and the dominant spruce is replaced by grasses and sledges, ...which are supplanted by bushes and willows that give way to alder and birch (the caribou, moose, bears, beaver, etc. all dine well in these non-spruce areas) that are ultimately replaced by spruce, the climax forest. A natural cycle of which the fire is a very necessary part.


ink (applied with brush) and soft pastel on 12 by 12 inch colored stock