Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center

By Kale Williams

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It's been 10 months since the Eagle Creek Fire tore through the Columbia River Gorge. It blackened tens of thousands of acres, sent frantic residents fleeing from their homes and blanketed Portland with smoke and ash.

By the time the massive blaze was considered fully contained in late November, nearly 50,000 acres had been consumed by the conflagration. Though it's considered contained,

still smolder in the most remote areas that burned.

Even with embers still smoking, parts of the Gorge have gone from ashen black to verdant green in less than a year. It's a sign, fire experts say, that fire is a natural phenomenon, and that the Gorge as we know it will be back again.

That the Gorge will return to its full splendor was clearly evident on a recent flight over the area, arranged by Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center, a documentary filmmaker with Portland-based Balance Media. Though charred trees still stuck up from burnt ridge lines like quills on a goth porcupine, the understory was bright green in many places where only brown and black were seen just months before.

"I was really impressed with how green it was," said Lisa Ellsworth, a fire ecologist from Oregon State University who accompanied Jennings on the flight.

About 15 percent of the total burn area was described as "high severity,"

, meaning almost all vegetation was killed. But the rest of the fire was considered low to moderate. The forest canopy in those areas likely survived, Ellsworth said, and only the underbrush was lost in the fire.

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"Clearing out that underbrush will help protect against the next fire," Ellsworth told The Oregonian/OregonLive. After viewing the area from the plane, Ellsworth said that many of the bare slopes were holding up nicely and erosion appeared to be minimal.

She was quick to note that the fire had numerous catastrophic impacts on those who live in and around the Gorge. Businesses were shuttered for months, hundreds had to evacuate their homes and trails in the area, which hold a special place in many people's hearts, have yet to recover.

Still, speaking strictly from an ecological standpoint, the fire was beneficial for the forest, Ellsworth said.

"We've had a fire deficit in this area for many decades," she said. Forests need for that underbrush to be periodically cleared out and many species, like cavity-nesting birds, need dead trees in which to make their homes. "Ecologically, this was a really good fire."

Looking forward, Ellsworth said the next year or so should see the continued return of herbaceous growth. In the next five years, the landscape will likely be dominated by shrubs, with the return of some hardwoods and conifer seedlings. A decade out, she said, those trees will begin to resemble a young forest.

"They won't be large trees, but they'll be recognizable as conifers for sure," she said.

On the late-June flight, Jennings main goal was to compare some of the most recognizable spots in the Gorge to aerial photographs taken by the state in November. Below you'll find the results, which show solid growth in many areas.

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Angel's Rest November 2017

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Angel's Rest June 2018

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Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center

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Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center

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Oneonta Gorge November 2017

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Oneonta Gorge June 2017

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Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center

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Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center

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Triple Falls November 2017

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Triple Falls June 2018

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Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center

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Metlako Falls November 2017

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Metlako Falls June 2018

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Trip Jennings and the Crag Law Center

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Jennings took a similar flight over the Gorge in October, along with Ellsworth, who toured an area along the Clackamas River that burned in 2002 to show just how quickly forests can bounce back.

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-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048

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