The Twilight Forest : An Elegy for Ponderosa in a Changing West

With their towering, cinnamon-colored trunks and dusky green canopies,ponderosa pine has long been a charismatic icon of the AmericanWest.Yet a quiet unraveling has begun:in the past decade, in a vastarea from Santa Feto the Sierras, more than two hundred million ponderosa have died.While some trees willsurvive in cooler places, scientists estimate that by mid-century less than five percentof the ponderosa in the American Southwest may remain.As the very character of this vast region shifts, what will be left behind?And how can we come to terms with such profound loss?In The TwilightForest, GaryFerguson brings readerson an expansive journey throughthe ponderosa forestsof the Southwest both to mourn-and to celebrate-the forests that nurtured him. In warm and luminous storytelling, Fergusonweaves together the human and natural history ofponderosa, from its march across the West more than 10,000years ago, to centuries of artists inspired by its dazzling stature and shady passageways.Both wildfire and climate change are constant presences on this journey.Fire is necessary for healthy forests but has turned deadly, while climate change stresses even the hardiestbeings of the natural world.Yetthe story of ponderosa reminds us thatloss can be a gateway to connection-to nature and each other. While it is tempting to hide from the changes aroundus, Ferguson offers a healing approach: "to pick even one of these thousand doors of loss, pull it open and walk through." The resulting journey isa life-affirming tribute to oneof America's most cherishedwild landscapes.