Some paths around Spirit Mountain near Grand Ronde, Ore. are only wide enough for one truck, a reminder that looms ominous as vehicles slow to manage the road’s tighter turns. The juxtaposition, however, is breathtaking. The steep drops from the dirt’s edge feed into swathes of woodlands, providing the perfect vistas to scan the green, brown and grey towers that form their constellations amid overcast horizons. Their forests rest, in contrast, against acres of newly planted trees, as well as the area’s newest clear-cut fields.
“The bees have been taking it in the shorts,” David Hampton explains, telling his traveling crew what he does with their newly cleared land.