Northern California, 2020

A trip through northern California from the Oregon border to Yosemite reveals a diverse collection of natural and curated landscapes. Persistent smoke from wildfires, especially further south, presents a constant reminder that climate change is a mandatory consideration for any investment and occupancy in the region.

Sheepy Ridge Ranch

Sheepy Ridge Ranch is a farm near the Oregon border. The un-irrigated areas are dry and dusty with little growth. Well water creates luscious meadows of alfalfa; some wheat grows outside of the irrigated crop circles as a remnant of the winter farming pattern. A few cows forage in the fields and the remaining crop is shipped for use as cow feed. The farm is nestled between the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges.

  • Rusted steel pipes mark an old fence
  • A few cows graze in a dry pasture
  • Shrubby growth near the wildlife refuge
  • Cow bones
  • Irrigated field of alfalfa
  • Flowering alfalfa
  • The ridge rises beyond the fields
  • Irrigation on an empty field prepares it for fall planting
  • Divide between the farm and the wildlife refuge
  • The Wildlife Refuge
  • A field of “winter” wheat
  • Patchy wheat crop in an un-irrigated quadrant of the circle
  • Field of alfalfa
  • Field of alfalfa
  • Tank in a field of alfalfa
  • Central pivot irrigation system
  • Irrigation on a semi-circular field of alfalfa
  • Roof trusses in a dilapidated barn
  • The ridge
  • View of the farm from the ridge
  • “Bird’s nest” hut perched on the ridge
  • Biological growths adorn a mammal-shaped rock on the ridge
  • Shrubby grows on the ridge
  • Ridge and valley
  • Rocks and shrubs texturize the ridge
  • A single juniper tree grows on the ridge
  • View beyond the ridge
  • Farmland beyond the ridge
  • View beyond the ridge

Mt. Shasta & Shasta Lake

Stops along the road reveal views of Mt. Shasta and a mostly-dry Shasta Lake.

  • The Flue Player, at the Sculpture Monument Garden near Mt. Shasta
  • Mostly dry Shasta Lake

Colusa

Colusa is a small farming town located along the Sacramento River. Local farms feature fruit and nut orchards and a mix of seasonal crops. Properties feature a mix of historic and artistically-adapted structures.

  • “The Brown” field
  • Tomato field
  • Dense vines produce a jungle-like atmosphere near the Sacramento River
  • Sacramento River on a smoky day
  • Flowering groundcover along the Sacramento Riverbank
  • Walnut tree
  • Smoke-obscured sunrise over a walnut orchard
  • Walnuts
  • Grapefruits
  • “Tea House”
  • “Tea House”
  • Tiller
  • Barn
  • View of the trees through the barn windows
  • Barn studio
  • Ceramics in the barn studio lit by smoke-filtered sunlight
  • Red sunlight casts a window’s shadow onto a wood door
  • “The Berkey” field

Indian Valley Forest

Timber land overlooking the Indian Valley features a diverse array of tree species and ages. Despite a recent harvest, this particular property features dense and rigorous growth. A thinning project is planned to reduce wildfire hazards.

  • Fir needles
  • Ponderosa Pine needles
  • Cedar needles
  • Oak leaves and acorns
  • Mossy bark

Cougar Springs/Big Chief

Across the valley, this forest overlooks a sparse residential development in Hunt Canyon. The forest was recently thinned to mitigate wildfire hazards and includes merchantable timber. It includes a pristine building site for a secluded house in the woods.

Yosemite

A private timber property nestled into Yosemite National Park at the edge of Sierra National Forest was largely burned during the 2018 Ferguson Wildfire. Its man-made structures survived thanks to the firefighters. Many trees also survived the fire. In the un-burned sections, large volumes of dead trees reveal that the fire was not the only cause of the forest’s decline. Drought took many trees before the fire. Two years into the natural recovery process, a thinner forest emerges retaining a diversity in species. Perhaps more sustainable for the medium-term future, this thinner forest contains less volume for timber harvest but remains excellent habitat for wildlife.

Unburnt and dying (left) and burnt and recovering (right) sections of forest along a 2018 fire control line
  • NatureBridge National Environmental Science Center
  • Young oak and hut
  • Living, dead, and burnt forest
  • Fallen Ponderosa Pine and young Cedar
  • Recovery in the burn area
  • A tall oak
  • Rock, dead and live trees
  • Oak and fir
  • Infant cedar seedlings
  • Charred Stump
  • Charred trunks
  • Surviving younger trees
  • Butterfly in the meadow
  • Lupine
  • Eleven Mile Creek
  • Charred Manzanita
  • Fire control clearing and burn pile
  • Four species of infant tree seedlings post-fire in close proximity

5 replies on “Northern California, 2020”

  3. You are an excellent photographer! I especially liked your shots in Eastern Oregon. Your Papa Ice and I have taken several raptor trips with the High Desert Museum in part of that area. The alfalfa fields are rich in ground squirrels which makes happy hunting for the raptors and thus great viewing for birders One of my favorites is the moon shot. Also the pots in a barn with the smoke-colored light.

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  5. These tell so many stories. Thank you for the collection. You have captured so many textures across broad scales – time and space.

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