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| This is all that remains of "Big Tree" the largest white pine west of the Mississippi. We loved taking hikes to this tree with our family through a shaded forest filled with lush vegetation. Now the forest is gone. |
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| I'm standing in the charred remains of the forest behind our cabin among the black ghosts of trees. |
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| My husband Ross is standing on top of the mountain behind our cabin looking out over the burned terrain after the raging forest fire last summer. These beautiful mountains were once thick with trees and foliage. The forest floor is now covered with sterile ash and the charred remains of old growth pines that will never return. |
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| All the beautiful trees are gone like a dream in the night. Tall stately pines that took hundreds of years to mature into our beloved forest are now gone. There is no wildlife or sounds of birds. Even the wind is still as if to mourn our loss. |
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| Yet if I look at my feet, I see a single blade of grass brave the desolation and destruction. Life will go on. Though life will never be the same on our mountain there will be more beauty to come. As recent fires in my life have raged threatening to destroy my peace and joy, yet I will go on. For the refiners fire burns away all the dross and only love and hope remain. |
