For the Love of Trees

The images in this application are from the first five years of working in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, a 16,000-acre ecological site known for its 200-year research studies.

For the Love of Trees explores the bonds we make with trees and those trying to make a difference in a world threatened by climate change, environmental uncertainty, and an unsympathetic US president and congress.

The images in this application are from the first five years of working in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, a 16,000-acre ecological site known for its 200-year research studies.  I follow several scientists and their crews while they carry out research.  Climate change is altering how the forest performs, and Dr. Joseph LaManna is hoping to understand how the forest will adapt over time. Dr. Posy Busby, studies non-pathogenic fungi that live in plants, called endophytes, and tests how endophytes influence plant disease severity. Dr. Andrew Merschal is mapping fires in the Andrews by way of tree ring studies.

Currently I’m focusing on the crew.  The crew is primarily made up of undergraduate and graduate students in the environmental sciences who take on summer jobs.  I’ve begun interviewing about their experiences in the forest and what working in a long-term study forest means to them.  If they’re writing or creating art about their experience, I ask if we can collaborate and their work is included in the project. 

My environmental portraits are large-scale (each panel is 40 inches high) because I want to immerse the viewer in the world of my subjects.  I see the work in conversation with both historical and contemporary paintings and photographs of powerful people doing great and not-so-great things.  The people in my photographs are not famous, but they are doing important work.  Some have spent their whole life in the field, others are just beginning.  Most often, the impact of their efforts will not be fully realized in their lifetimes, yet they persevere.