Fire in the Forest by Susan Reynolds

Fire in the Forest presents the story of the Silver Fire that devastated New Mexico in June/July 2013. The area was suffering exceptional drought and high temperatures at the time of the lightning strike that eventually destroyed over 138,000 acres of forest. Presented in the book are facts about the fire and the drought; details from the U.S. Forest Service and from the New Mexico Department of Health; personal journal entries from the days of the fire; quotes about trees and forests; and photos from after the burn. The box is covered with a hand-drawn leafless forest. It presents numerous found objects that are part of the story: a slumped beer bottle, charred bark, litter revealed when all the ground vegetation was burned to ash. This rugged wilderness forest will not recover in my lifetime. Fire in the Forest is my memorial to the Gila National Forest.