Barkscape #1, Hoh Rainforest

Taken on a frosty morning in the Hoh Rainforest, Barkscape #1, which I took with a Cell Phone, captures the cycles of death and regeneration in the Temperature Rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. The life of a cedar that has lived for centuries, died, and slowly decayed returuning minerals countless other trees will feed upon as well as fungus (the white domes), ferns, molds and mosses that will convert the remnants of a tree that lived and died centuries before this photo was taken. To see the life signature of the tree, the patterns of growth and regeneration set the stage for renewed interest in photography, and the complex lives of trees. The thrill of observing, coming to learn and being able to bear witness to the lives of these magnificent lifeforms.

The Sculpture Garden

The sinuous lines of growth of this Bristlecone Pine indicate the harsh environs for the tree that lives above 10,000 feet. Each twist was rendered over centuries as the tree growsn no more th 1/16 an inch a year.

Iron and Moss

A wounded tree has become home for lichen (red/orange) and moss (light yellow green). Although the tree may appear a fatally wounded, such arrangements actually can provide the tree protection while it heals trading nutrients, storing water and providing a cushion against further damage.

Storm Cells

A piece of Spruch driftwood has collectedly on the shore revealing its long plight in the water in the erosion lines and, its new life on land where algae, fungus and moss accelerate decay bringing the erosion into sharp relief. Such formations in driftwood are common making them prized, and therefore, illegal to collect in the Puget Sound.

Paperbark Maple

A Paperbark Maple Tree located in the Japanese Garden at Washington Park Arboretum. A botanical wonder of the Pacific Northwest, these trees tend to prefer higher elevations and shed bright copper like bark each spring as they grow.

Growing a mere 1/16 of an inch a year and living to be between 3000 and 5000 years old on average, Bristlecone Pine are the oldest living things on earth. Taking into to the highlands during the last ice age, Bristlecone thrive above 10,000 ft where growing season is limited to 1/16 of an inch a year. Featuring fire retardant bark, rock hard wood, lateral roots that anchor them to the rocky ground where intense wind and storms toss them about, their waxy leaves can last 40 years and their cones take 3 years to mature. Pictured here, the growth rings representing a thousand years of growth; a five-inch wide branch that ever so slowly grew into the edge of burl, fixing the sun's light into a permanent record.⠀

Fossil Arc

Formed when trees are covered by floods or volcanic eruptions---Petrified Wood is a prism of geologic light; each tree is cast in quartz with concentrations of iron, carbon and manganese giving the ancient tree its color. Pictured here, a tree in the Navajo Nation in modern day Northeast Arizona.

Tree Tooth

The remnants of a downed tree where inner bark material has rotted out and the older, inner branch growth remains. Such finds are rare as they require a number of events to ever come to light including weather, animal who habitate in the downed tree, fungal infections that soften the heartwood and a bit of human help; an accidental cut mark.

Sycamore Hollow

A tree hollow in a Sycamore Tree captures morning light above the Miami River Valley in Southwest Ohio. Such locations are a favorite spot of native Owl populations.

Birch Scroll

A sheaf of Birch Bark has separated from body of the tree as the inner wood rapidly decays and the bark dries out and is weathered while trying to maintaining the tension of shapes it held when alive.

Branchscar

Located high above the Pacific Ocean, Mt Palomar is home to one of the most southerly groves of Madrone in the US. A conifer, the Madrone sheds its skin in bright red sheafs year over year revealing yellow, pale and white skin like that shown here. A vigorous tree, Madrone drop and seal branch scars like this at a rapid rate.

Puzzles

A hand sized chunk of Ponderosa Pine bark reveals the layers of the trees life in the volcanic scablands of Washington. Ponderosa Pine bark is uniquely adapted to resist fire, afford the heatwood protection from animals and help fight off disease. Pieces like this are common in groves near the end of the season when he trees store up water.

Vernal Lines

Peeling bark on a Yellow Birch in Washington Park Arboretum in spring reveals damage and signals of new growth. The trees, which are known linear lenticels, breathe through the lines that form just beneath the skin and can be harvested for medicine or even clothing.

Pando Sags

A sag near the trunk of branch of the Pando trees shows times of growth and rapid divergence for the 106 acre giant. Sag formations are formed when branches grow, or, in this case, when the tree grows rapidly then falls in to repose.

In Motion

A nurse tree, which is a tree that seeds and takes root in the remains of another. Pictured here, in the Carbon River Rainforest, a downed tree (moving right out of the frame) has given a fertile bed for new life to set up. On human time scales, it appears nothing is happening, but each twist and bend of the fallen parent and the new tree, reveal both tactical and strategic patterns of growth that match the tree the nurse tree falls, sinks, decays and opens up new paths for the seedling to set roots and grow.

Sapsucker Path

The path of a hungry pecking Sapsucker bird is left in the face of a cedar tree in the Olympic Rainforest. A never ending battle, the birds seek food while the trees bulk up their bodies to prevent feeding plots to become host to infection.

Inner Burl

A finger of wood remains in the rotted out core of a Spruce burl on the Olympic Coasts. The burls, which can reach five feet in circumference are prolific in theis section of the Olympic Coast. Their purpose is debated, arguably, they deflect the 100 MPH winds and salty air.

Beetlebark and Bristlecone

The life of a Bark Beetle is etched into the body of Bristlecone Pine in Nevada. Although long lived and featuring wood that can typically resist disease and bugs, Brislecone are not impervious nor immortal. Should the beetle prevail as it has here, the tree will be eaten from the inside out and spread to other vulnerable trees.

Sun Vane

Late afternoon sun traces the heart of a burl decaying in the Spruce Burl Forest. The burls, which can reach 5 feet in circumference, are a mystery, but are believed to provide protection from fierce salty air of the Pacific Ocean 100 feet below where this shot was taken.

Buttress Roots

One of the largest Bayan Trees in Hawaii reveals a survival strategy in wet and active terra firma; buttressing and expanding their influence reaching up to 1000 feet around.

Weather

The outer bark and inner heartwood of a Bristlecone Pine Tree demonstrates the hardness of the wood. When they die, Bristlecone do not rot, in fact, some dead Bristlecone have been aged at 11,000 years old. Instead, the rock hard wood is sandblasted shaped by the winds and weather.

Braided Redwood

Just as skin is soft and pliable, the outer bark of Redwood trees twist and turn when pressure is applied. Pictured here, the story of how rapid growth and violent winds combine to create myriad patterns in the trees growth. Each filament, a turn toward or away from danger, rapid growth and repose similar to how a strethched out sock twists on your ankle and sags at your toes.

Incense Cedar

Prolific in the Eastern US and found in high elevations in the West, Incense Cedar employs a layered effect like its cousins the Giant Sequoia and Ponderosa Pine to make it fire hardy and protect itself. Taking its name from the sweet smell of its resins, these trees grow patches of bark that spread and cross one another as the tree expands.

Funnel Web

Home to countless birds, insects, small mammals, the wide bark grooves of trees become home that brings food and carries water down into the homes of those who set up. Here, a funnel spider has anchored its trap on the outer edge of the bark in wait for its next meal.

Monocot Not Tree

Joshua Trees have the unique distinction of have properties like grass (monocots) and trees (dicots). Lacking growth rings linke their nearby cousins the cactus, the trees develop spines that are slowly crushed down to form "bark" like the image shown here. Isolated to Southern California and relying on a single moth to pollinate it, these trees hold a unique place in tree lore; a desert tree that is not, adapted for rapid growth, arid conditions reproductive cycles that defy the logic of grass, cactus and tree despite a shared heritage.

The Lord Hill Spruce

Outgrowth of a tree in the Lord Hill Regional Park shows the multiple layers of the trees growing, re-growing and healing itself over the centuries.

Joshua Tree National Park 2017:Various

Joshua Tree National Park: Tree of Life 2017 Expedition

Sawtell Peak Idaho Whitebark Pine 2017:Various

Sawtell Peak Idaho Whitebark Pine: Tree of Life 2017 Expedition

Barkscape: Douglas Fir | Mt Rainier National Park

An old Douglas Fir snag gives up its secrets along the way to Spray Falls on the Northwest Face of Mt. Rainier. A single dead tree can provide 300 to 500 years of nutrients and shelter to the wet low spaces of the volcanic giant.

Grove of (M)Patriach

A down spruce tree in the Grove of the Patriarchs at the foot of Mt Raineir reveals nuanced layers of branch growth and the complex weathering of the wood where upwards of 90 feet of rain and snow fall each year.

Alder and Bear

An alder tree in the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge tells the story of a recent visit by a bear. The trees, which take their bark color from ground minerals and can store precious metals in their tissue reveal a cacophony of color when struck by a bear looking for bugs or bark to eat.

Barkscape: Sequoia Obscura #2

The Sequoia Obscura series documents the colorful inner and hidden lives of Coastal Redwood Trees. Each color here, represents moments in the trees life. Indigo and blues are fire scars and smoke stains. The greens are mosses. The white, lichen and molds. Yellows, the slow decay of fungus that worked for centuries to take hold as Redwood produce chemicals that resist fungus.