Wilderness Fire: The Beauty of Fire-Prone Landscapes

The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, a vast 1.3-million-acre expanse in western Montana and eastern Idaho, is a landscape deeply intertwined with fire. Today, this rugged wilderness area has one of the most active fire regimes in the contiguous US, and continues to be a “natural laboratory” for us to understand how fire interacts with forests, especially in a time of changing climate. I have spent two summers in the heart of the Selway-Bitterroot as part of research teams from the University of Montana, gathering data from and creating images of this unique area. These images reveal a landscape where fire is an agent of destruction but also one of stability and rejuvenation—a balancing force that creates space for new growth and adaptation.