item thumbnail for View of the landing strip at Taylor Wilderness Research Station, with Big Creek on the northern side
item thumbnail for View of the landing strip at Taylor Wilderness Research Station, with Big Creek on the northern side
Title:
View of the landing strip at Taylor Wilderness Research Station, with Big Creek on the northern side
Creator:
Creator Unknown
Date:
2002
Source:
Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library: TaylorRanch_UA2017-39002
Original Filename:
Landing strip at the ranch_Big Creek.jpg
Download JPEG
Title:
View of the landing strip at Taylor Wilderness Research Station, with Big Creek on the northern side
Creator:
Micaela Petrini
Date:
2019-05-30
Original Filename:
DSC_0245.JPG
Download JPEG

View of the landing strip at Taylor Wilderness Research Station, with Big Creek on the northern side - 2002 and 2019

Taken only two years after the Clear Creek Complex fire, the historical photograph shows a defined, burned landscape. Luckily the fire burned up the Pioneer Creek drainage and spared much of the riparian vegetation around Taylor Wilderness Research Station, but folks familiar with the drainage felt the desolate landscape would never recover from the firestorm. They mourned the loss of the verdant, lush landscape they had known before, though their acute awareness of their environment allowed them to also appreciate the changes that began to happen right away. Cougar and moose struggled to adjust to their altered territories; elk and wolves moved north towards the Chamberlain Basin; elk calved in the Jim Hill Mustard that exploded along Big Creek’s banks; growth and productivity increased in Big Creek and its tributaries; and riparian shrubs such as willow rebounded quickly.

Location: Taylor Wilderness Research Station Big Creek Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, ID

Latitude & Longitude: 45.1027, -114.8517

« Previous Back to Browse Next »