This series of images show the same location along the Miller Woods trail from approximately the same view point.  They cover a time frame from late March 2021 to late Sept. 2021 and illustrate the resilience of the land.  Not only is this trail less than a mile from the Gary steel mill, it endured a hot wildfire in the spring followed by drought conditions through spring and summer.  Any yet it remains beautiful and vibrant through out the year.

This first photo was taken in early March.  The park service had just completed a controlled burn over about half of Miller Woods.  You can see the burn marks in the blackened patches.  The palette of the land is dominated by siennas and umbers on the ground and subtle blue grays above.

 

 

 

Just a few weeks after the controlled burn a wildfire burned through the entire woods.  The wildfire burned much hotter than the controlled burn and consumed a large number of healthy trees, some of which were reduced to ashes.  I revisited the park only two weeks afterwards in early May.  The bright green vegetation shooting up all over the park was amazing.

 

By the first of June you would not know that this area had been badly burned.  You can start to see the effect of the drought though as the water level is falling in this low lying area which exists in between dune ridges and is called a swale.  Here we have a nice balance between the vivid greens and blues of summer, and the muted earth tones.

 

 

In mid July most of the swale is beautifully filled in with grasses.

 

 

 

 

As September passes the grasses are beginning to turn lovely shades of sienna and rust.  I am looking forward to watching how things change through the coming winter months.