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Snags, Stumps and Ghost Forests

Detroit Lake, Oregon tree stumps in the foreground with dark forest in the background.
A pair of large boulders with a pair of stumps on a ledge above Detroit Lake, Oregon.
Chained buoys lying among tree stumps in dried bed of Detroit Lake, Oregon
Dried bed of Detroit Lake, Oregon with trio of stumps in foreground and more scattered stumps in background.
A tree stump with roots extended over rocks along edge of Detroit Lake, Oregon.
Large tree stump with water channel from Detroit Lake separating it from numerous other stumps.
A tree stump horizontally embedded into ledge with stumps and forested hills in the background.
A distant view of stumps along shoreline of Detroit Lake waters, and misted mountain sides beyond.
A rocky ledge with stumps overlooking misty Cascade Mountains of Central Oregon.
Piles of tree stumps above shores of Detroit Lake, Oregon.
A tree stump with spreading roots on rocky shoreline of Detroit Lake, Oregon with more stumps in distance.
A tree stump overlooking shores of Detroit Lake, Oregon, with stumps and forest mountainsides around lake.
A hollowed ghost tree on Neskowin, Oregon beach with wooded Proposal Rock offshore.
Two ghost tree remnants with water channel between them on Neskowin, Oregon beach.
A barnacle-covered ghost tree on Neskowin, Oregon beach.
Numerous ghost trees along water channel on Neskowin, Oregon beach.
Barnacle-covered ghost trees in sand and water on Neskowin, Oregon beach.
A ghost tree submerging into surf as tide rises on Neskowin, Oregon beach.
A blackened tree trunk lying in a bed of ferns burned by a forest fire along Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon.
A hillside of moss-covered trees and snags along Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon.
Bare tree branches along Oregon Pacific Crest Trail caught in sunlight with trees damaged by forest fire behind them.
Two snags with fallen burnt trunk between them along Oregon Pacific Crest Trail.
Shaft of light showing new growth emerging from ground in section of Oregon Pacific Crest Trail damaged by forest fire.
Branches reaching over burnt tree trunk on ground beside Oregon Pacific Crest Trail.
Small branches lit by sun along trunk of fire-scarred fir tree near Oregon Pacific Crest Trail.
A pair of fire-scarred tree trunks with another trunk lying in front of them along Oregon Pacific Crest Trail.

In the Pacific Northwest earthquakes and tsunamis as well as droughts, dams and fires create forests of ghostly trees. 2,000 year old Sitka spruce and cedars rise from their graves along the coast during low tides. In Central Oregon, recent droughts and the effects of the Santium River’s dam combine to create another kind of ghost forest. Droughts also increase the fires that reduce forested slopes to blackened stumps and snags. Earthquakes and tsunamis are beyond our control; climate change is the result of our negligence.