Guy Tal | Photographer, Author

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The skeletons of ponderosa pines killed in a wildfire, bathed in fog.

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Ponderosa pines covered in hoar frost and new snow. This image was made in 2016. These trees have since died due to climate change.

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The graceful snag of a ponderosa pine in a mixed pine/aspen forest, bathed in fog.

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Scrub oak in autumn color, growing among ponderosa pines.

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Dead ponderosa pines, killed in a wildfire, stand bare against the golden autumn foliage of young aspen trees. This once-sustainable cycle of aspens and conifers supporting each other (young aspen sprout after a wildfire, and provide shade for conifer seeds to germinate) is now broken. Due to climate change, this forest will likely never again support conifers.

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Ponderosa pines that had survived a wildfire stand tall among their dead brethren and new growth os aspen trees in golden autumn foliage.

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Alpine creek lined in lush vegetation flowing through a forest of ponderosa pine trees. This image hides a grim truth: the great pines are dying. This scene will become a skeleton forest within just a few more years.

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Ponderosa pines growing in precarious perches among sandstone cliffs, fed by water from monsoon rains.

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First snow (streaking diagonally across the frame) falling on alpine lake flanked by grasses, birch trees, and ponderosa pines.

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Ponderosa pine forest lined in manzanita bushes and lichen covered boulders, filled with fog during an early winter storm.

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Ponderosa pine forest lined in fallen needles and lichen covered boulders, filled with fog during a spring rain.

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Ponderosa pine forest filled with fog.

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Ponderosa pines covered in hoar frost during a gentle snowfall.

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Ponderosa pines covered in bright green needles in spring, covered in light snow from one of the season’s last storms.

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Ponderosa pines and aspen tree covered in rime ice.

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New amaranth shrubs in autumn color growing along the floor of a ponderosa pine forest just a few weeks after all trees were killed by a summer wildfire.

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Eerie charred skeletons of ponderosa pines killed by a summer wildfire glow in the last light.

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New amaranth bushes in autumn color growing among the charred remains of dead ponderosa pines killed in a wildfire. The scene reminded me of these words by Albert Camus: “In our wildest aberrations we dream of an equilibrium we have left behind and which we naively expect to find at the end of our errors.”

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Scrub oak in autumn color reclaims a mountainside formerly covered in ponderosa pines that burned in a wildfire.

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Skeletons of large ponderosa pines killed by a wildfire, stand among scrub oaks in autumn color.

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Ponderosa pine skeletons stand among scrub oak in autumn color, several years after a wildfire.

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This deceptively peaceful scene is in fact an ecosystem collapsing. The large ponderosa pines all show signs of decline and will likely perish within a couple of years. The manzanita bushes covering the ground appear to be in autumn color, but this image was made in the peak of summer.

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A healthy community of aspens among ponderosa and pinyon pines is one of few now remaining. Conifers are now dying at a rapid rate throughout the Southwestern US.

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A shaft of sunlight pierces through thick monsoon thunderstorm clouds to illuminate a deep canyon, seen from the high slopes of a plateau covered in ponderosa pine and other trees.

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An old recently-dead ponderosa pine, stripped of the last of its needles, remains standing to receive the season’s first snow.

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Ponderosa pines growing against a sandstone wall, covered in hoar frost.

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A gust of wind shakes off a small avalanche of snow from the branches of ponderosa pines.

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Blooming goldenrod and buckwheat line the floor of a ponderosa pine forest shortly after a wildfire killed all trees. This young tree, still holding on to its needles, was likely just a few years old. Older trees can live to be several hundred years old.

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A dead young ponderosa pine, still holding onto its needles, surrounded by the skeletons of its elders after a wildfire destroyed the forest.

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Goldenrod flowers fill the floor of a recently burned forest of ponderosa pine.

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Afternoon sun filters through ponderosa pines to light up scrub oak in autumn foliage.

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Fallen ponderosa pine lays among manzanita bushes. Most (likely all) of these beautiful giants will be gone from the Southwest US by the end of the century.

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The view from my campsite in a beautiful ponderosa pine forest lined with scrub oaks. Each afternoon, light filtered through the big trees, adding a warm glow to the colorful autumn foliage.

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Ponderosa pine holding onto a small rocky perch above a steep canyon. These trees usually grow straight up. The twisted shape and exposed roots of this tree suggest it had weather extreme conditions.

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Solitary ponderosa pine catching the last light of the day, standing tall on its perch on the rim of a steep canyon.

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Twin young ponderosa pines stand vibrantly on the edge of a deep desert canyon. Alas, they will likely succumb to the effects of the changing climate in the next few years before reaching maturity, as so many of their neighbors already had.