Favorable low intensity ground fire during a burn operation. A Mormon Lake Hotshot checking a ponderosa pine for any ignition in the crown. Whitewater-Baldy Complex, Gila NF, NM, 2012. Photo credit: Kari Greer
Before
Large column produced by extreme fire behavior in heavy timber dropping embers out ahead of itself and starting spot fires on the Pioneer Fire, Boise NF, ID, 2016. Photo credit: Kari Greer
During
Favorable low intensity backing fire behind a home in First Creek on Lake Chelan during the First Creek Fire, Okanongan-Wenatchee NF, WA, 2015. Photo credit: Kari Greer
Idaho City Hotshots hiking on the Pioneer Fire, Boise NF, ID, 2016. Photo credit: Kari Greer
After
A grinning firefighter with mop-up face on the First Creek Fire, Okanongan-Wenatchee NF, WA, 2015. Photo credit: Kari Greer
About the Exhibit
In April 2018, THE PRICHARD ART GALLERY at the University of Idaho (Moscow, ID) presented the first thorough exhibition of Kari Greer’s photographs (with the exhibit also being shown in May 2018 at The Fire Continuum Conference, co-hosted by the Association of Fire Ecology and the International Association of Wildland Fire). Greer’s images usually serve as supplements to words and reports; this project provides the space for their full appreciation. Due to increased wildfire activity our summer skies progress from azure blue through hazy tones, achieving a true sense of brown. In 2015, 10.1 million acres burned in the US. The increasing length and severity of fire seasons makes this project timely and important. Scientists comprehend what it means to live in a fire environment, including when to suppress, contain or let fires burn. The goal of this project is to help propel greater public coversation and understanding of this volatile dynamic.
KARI GREER is a photographer with the National Interagency Fire Center based in Boise, Idaho. Kari specializes in wildland fire photography and editorial photojournalism. Her interest in wildland fire photography was sparked during her college years, working on a Forest Service fire crew on the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest in Washington. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Outside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Wildland Firefighter and The New York Times. She has an online video interview in Yahoo Studios for The Weekly Flickr as well as on CNN. Kari studied photography at California State University-Sacramento and spent time in a workshop with Mary Ellen Mark, collaborating with Icelandic photographer Erla Stefánsdóttir and National Geographic photographer Brooks Walker.
Essayist STEPHEN PYNE is a Regents professor at Arizona State University and the author of 30 books, 21 of them dealing with fire. He’s twice held NEH fellowships, twice been a fellow to the National Humanities Center, has received a MacArthur Fellowship, and been awarded the Los Angeles Times’ Robert Kirsch award for body-of-work contribution to American letters.
PROJECT PARTNERS include:
The National Endowment for the Arts, through an Arts Work grant. The Idaho Commission on the Arts, through a QuickFunds grant. Forest Fire Lookout Association, founded in 1990, is an organization involved in research of forest fire lookout sites, ground cabins and early forest fire detection methods. Northern Rockies Fire Science Network disseminates science and cultivates networks of managers and scientists.
(And this exhibit is also being displayed at the Fire Continuum conference, Missoula MT.)
Project consultant PENNY MORGAN is a professor in the Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences at the University of Idaho. Recently recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the national Association for Fire Ecology, she seeks to understand how vegetation responds so quickly to fires.
Project consultant C. ROD BACON first served as a fire lookout in 1969. He has spent 20+ seasons as a lookout in the Northwest. He has a long interest in photography. He’s taken workshops with master photographers Al Weber, Gordon Hutchings, Bruce Barnbaum, John Sexton and Anne Larson.
PRICHARD ART GALLERY staff who supported the exhibit includes Roger H.D. Rowley, Director & Project Curator, and Nara Woodland, Assistant Director.
