FOREST⇌FIRE is an inter-disciplinary, multi-sensory installation connecting art, the humanities and science. Debuting at the Truckee Community Recreation Center in Truckee, California December 10, 2021, it flows thematically through past, present and future, utilizing painting, textiles, beadwork, sculpture, photography and more, to tell the story of the Forest ecology and its relationship with Fire. Of how indigenous people, using low intensity fire, created and maintained the West’s pre-European, old growth forest for thousands of years, of why our forests are currently in ecological collapse, and what can be done immediately to prevent the loss of our Forest.
Through the story and artwork of 19 California writers and artists, the exhibition:
- Shares a science-based solution to catastrophic fire.
- Addresses the paradox that some trees need to be removed to save the Forest.
- Explains why fire needs to become our partner in returning the Forest to resiliency.
- Provides a vision of what a healthy future forest actually looks like.
- Offers an economically sustainable, hopeful future for the Forest.
- Aims to activate a transformative cultural understanding that we learn to live as a part of Nature, rather than apart from Nature in facing Climate Change.
Bringing our forests back into equilibrium (⇌) with fire via small tree and slash reduction combined with traditional low intensity burns, will regenerate healthy, fire-resistant, large-tree-forests of pristine beauty and great utility, personally affecting each and every Californian. Healthy, large tree forests purify our water and the air that we breathe, slow the effects of global warming via carbon sequestration, encourage biodiversity, and provide an endless and sustainable source of small-tree timber products and the jobs that result from maintaining a healthy forest ecosystem into the future.
For more information about the FOREST⇌FIRE Project and Exhibition, visit forestandfire.org and nevadacountyarts.org/
What: FOREST⇌FIRE Exhibition Opening
When: Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, from 5 to 7 p.m. (exhibition runs through June 2022)
Where: Truckee Community Recreation Center, 10981 Truckee Way, Truckee, CA 96161 (Masks are required inside the building.)
(The above is from the exhibit’s website)
Such a “interpretive exhibit” could be very useful IF it tells a complete story of how it’s going to take more than simply “more fire.” We need to return to a much more comprehensive forest management strategy; yes, that means logging which will provide thousands of jobs; thinning projects where best needed; fuel reduction where needed by mechanical methods as well as prescribed burns; wildlife and fishery projects; and much more. We must carefully evaluate the amount of smoke that is “purposely” put in our atmosphere and resulting in approximately 60,000 deaths each and EVERY year. Wildland firefighers in general do not wear oxygen masks and never have. What we do not know is just how much harm they suffer with prolonged exposure to such smoke, let alone additional smoke from prescribed fire.