802 Acres
Griffith Park, Los Angeles, August 2007
“…the hills have no large trees upon them, they having been all burnt by a great fire which swept them off about a dozen years before…”
—Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana describing his first impressions upon landing in Santa Barbara, January 14, 1835.--
—Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana describing his first impressions upon landing in Santa Barbara, January 14, 1835.--
The Griffith Park fire of May 2007 consumed about a fifth of the total acreage of the park, including some very popular attractions such as Dante’s View, Captain’s Roost and the Bird Sanctuary. As awful and as spectacular as it was, fire in Griffith Park is not that unusual. Historically, there have been significant fires in the park since the start of record keeping. In 1879 a fire prompted residents in Los Feliz to consider forestation plans for the south facing slopes of the park. On December 20, 1929 a fire started in Commonwealth Canyon, fanned by 40 mph winds, burned a thousand acres. In 1933 near Mineral Wells a brush fire killed 29 relief workers. A fire in Toyon Canyon in 1957 started when a garbage truck overturned. Edwin Curl recalled,
“This ignited the park in that area and burned a thousand acres of beautifully wooded hills. I rode the trails the day after the fire. What a desolate sight. Wild animals burned to death, trees black like standing charcoal. My horse was spooky but he was afraid to run away. No place to run to.”
These photographs grew out of in large part my interest in the tension between seeing the burned landscape as part of a natural and healthy ecological cycle, or seeing the terrible destruction of a resource vital to the city’s need for recreational space. This tension is now at the center of a conversation about how best to restore the acreage, and what the park means to the city’s residents.
I’d especially like to thank Los Angeles Councilmember Tom LaBonge and his Field Deputies, Jullian Harris-Calvin and Sharon Shapiro for their help (many times beyond the call) in accessing the burn areas of the Griffith Park fire. Their help, patience, and general good humor made the work all the more enjoyable. These photographs would not have been possible without their support. I’d also like to thank Park Ranger Kilpatrick for being extremely civil when writing me up for trespassing.
“This ignited the park in that area and burned a thousand acres of beautifully wooded hills. I rode the trails the day after the fire. What a desolate sight. Wild animals burned to death, trees black like standing charcoal. My horse was spooky but he was afraid to run away. No place to run to.”
These photographs grew out of in large part my interest in the tension between seeing the burned landscape as part of a natural and healthy ecological cycle, or seeing the terrible destruction of a resource vital to the city’s need for recreational space. This tension is now at the center of a conversation about how best to restore the acreage, and what the park means to the city’s residents.
I’d especially like to thank Los Angeles Councilmember Tom LaBonge and his Field Deputies, Jullian Harris-Calvin and Sharon Shapiro for their help (many times beyond the call) in accessing the burn areas of the Griffith Park fire. Their help, patience, and general good humor made the work all the more enjoyable. These photographs would not have been possible without their support. I’d also like to thank Park Ranger Kilpatrick for being extremely civil when writing me up for trespassing.
