FIRE

Wherever you might wander in a Sierra forest, evidence of its primeval relationship with fire is close at hand. Dig through the conifer-needled duff of a forest floor. Expose fists of cracked granite bound with ropy tree roots, and you’ll spot flecks of blue-black charcoal glinting among fragments of soil and stone, holding memories of embers. Probe the layers of fine silt at the bottom of a forest-nestled lake, and you’ll come upon tiny fragments of charred wood—the remnants of fire’s frequent visits to the surrounding watershed over thousands of years. Or look at the trees themselves. The trees