'Oak Forest, Eighteen Months After the Fire' from the Art x Climate Gallery

Released in 2023, the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) includes an Art × Climate Gallery. The gallery collection features the work of 92 artists, selected from more than 800 submissions. This photograph may only be reproduced or re-used in connection with the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Any other use must be negotiated with the author.

The amount of forest burned in the western United States has risen compared to the mid- and late twentieth century. The increase has been driven at least partly by climate warming, the NCA5’s Forests chapter reports. The area burned by high-severity wildfires has risen roughly eightfold since 1985, thanks partly to warmer, drier conditions, and fire activity is projected to increase with continued warming and drying. 

Jenny Helbraun Abramson produced this triptych with digital photography. This is the artist’s statement, reflecting on the devastation of the Tubbs Fire:

The 2017 Tubbs Fire traumatized my home community, Sonoma County, California, with the breathtaking speed of its spread. Dozens of lives were lost and more than 5,000 homes. Over the following three years, we experienced three more major wildfires. Once the burn areas reopened, I began to record the state of our beloved oak woodlands and my shock at what fire left behind. Recurrent disasters, including ongoing drought, record-breaking heat spells, and unusually heavy winter rains, have wrought a new sense of fragility and responsibility after our naivete was crushed.