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A photographer captures life in America’s last remaining old-growth forests
From mosses to mountain lions, the temperate old-growth rainforests of the Pacific Northwest provide the complexities and conditions necessary to support high levels of biodiversity. The Northwest Forest Plan has provided protection for these ancient ecosystems over the last 30 years and has helped advance forest management in Oregon, Washington and California. Developed in response to decades of unsustainable logging practices, the plan has helped restore forest ecosystems in 17 national forests.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
“As humans, our everyday lives are sustained by the behaviors and interactions of forest organisms,” photographer David Herasimtschuk writes of old growth forests. “Yet, because these processes and relationships occur in places and at scales rarely observed, our connection with forest biodiversity and the role it plays in nurturing our well-being often goes completely unnoticed.”
In the last 10 years, Herasimtschuk has photographed forests across the Pacific Northwest, documenting the inhabitants of these last remaining old-growth ecosystems. From salamanders and salmon to bears and mountain lions, his images illustrate not only the beauty of the forests and their creatures but the symbiotic relationships which are vital to the forests’ health and the planet’s welfare.
We interviewed Herasimtschuk about his efforts to educate people about the importance of preserving these ancient forests. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
A group of pink salmon return home to the waters where they were born, bringing with them a pulse of nutrients that helps drive stream and forest ecosystems. From old-growth trees to aquatic insects, hundreds of species rely on the large amount of marine-derived nutrients that salmon provide. As salmon numbers have declined throughout the Pacific Northwest, this important ecological resource has been lost from many forest and river environments in the region. It’s now estimated that only 3-7% of the nutrients salmon deliver make it back into freshwater environments.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
What motivates you to photograph old-growth forests?
Protecting intact, mature and old-growth forests worldwide has been found to be one of the most immediate and cost-effective solutions to mitigating the impacts of climate change, yet adequate policy to manage these forests for ecosystem health and carbon storage has been limited.
The temperate rainforests of western North America have the highest carbon storage potential of any forest type in the world and are recognized as some of the most valuable ecosystems on the planet. Yet, conflicts over these forests have been ongoing since the 1980s, with the timber industry and conservation community battling over how they are managed.
Celebrating the beauty and importance of these environments, this photo essay is a present-day look at the complex connections we share with these forests. Currently, there are numerous proposed policy initiatives that are focused on creating a new framework for forest health and old-growth protection in the Pacific Northwest. This includes a movement to protect mature forests, which are made up of trees that are 80-150 years old and viewed as comprising the next generations of old-growth forests.
Climbing through an understory of fallen Douglas firs, a young black bear explores an old-growth forest in Oregon’s Coast Range. Researchers are finding that fallen trees, also known as “dead wood,” play an important role in forest ecosystems and influence everything from moisture and carbon storage to providing habitat for a number of species.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
These legislative actions also contain policy to update and rethink how private and state forests are managed in the state of Oregon, as well as work to modernize forest protection on federal lands nationwide. In an effort to advance our country’s climate initiatives, the Biden administration enacted an executive order in 2022 that committed the federal government to protecting the few remaining mature and old-growth forests we have left. In response to that order, the U.S. Forest Service plans to make major revisions to both the National Forest Plan and Northwest Forest Plan this year.
With many decisions currently being discussed about the fate of our forests in the Pacific Northwest, it’s important that the public and decision-makers understand how healthy forests function, and have the information they need to make science-based decisions in regard to forest management.
A clear-cut forest in Oregon’s Coast Range Forest. Recent research and analysis has shown that industrial logging practices impact both water quality and quantity. In Oregon’s Coast Range, stream flow was found to decrease by 50% on tree plantations that were cut on 40- to 50-year rotations.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
How long have you been working on this project?
I have been working, living and exploring in the Pacific Northwest since 2011, and started this old-growth focused project in 2022.
What kinds of images were you hoping to capture with your work?
From the top of the canopy to the waters below, my goal for this project is to create a series of photos that provide an entire ecosystem aesthetic. To do this, I work to create wide-angle images that put a species, or human, in context of the forest or habitat type.
Currently, a large amount of my work focuses on the connections between forests, rivers and fish. In the Pacific Northwest, the relationship between salmon and forests embodies a sense of connection that seems almost mystical. Delivering a pulse of nutrients, returning adult salmon nourish some of the largest trees in the world, and in return, these ancient forests provide a foundation for the complexity of conditions that salmon and other fish rely on. For millions of years, salmon, trout and numerous other aquatic species have adapted to the conditions created by these massive trees. From bank stabilization and water filtration to the creation of cover and spawning habitat, large trees provide a multitude of ecosystem services for aquatic environments.
In the Pacific Northwest, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to experience large salmon runs that are similar to what was seen historically. The forests of the Pacific Northwest have some of the highest carbon storage potential of any forest type in the world. With certain tree species’ ability to grow up to three times faster when supported by the nutrients salmon bring to a forest’s ecosystem, it’s believed that salmon restoration could be an important tool to help increase a forest’s ability to sequester carbon in the region.
David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
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David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
To illustrate these relationships, or to show how these connections have been lost, I work to find opportunities where I can put fish and forests in the same image. This type of image often helps share the story of how forest management plays a critical role in salmon conservation.
A male coho salmon migrates to its spawning waters in a small creek in Oregon’s Coast Range. Over a century of commercial logging has removed most of the old-growth trees from the region, resulting in riparian forests that are made up of much smaller trees. This lack of larger trees has had a major impact on forest and river ecosystems in the Northwest and remains as a major factor limiting in the conservation of federally protected fish, like coho salmon.
David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
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David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
What have you learned about the forest’s ecosystem since you’ve started this project?
One of the most important concepts I’ve come to understand while working on this project is that not all forests are equal. How we manage a forest can have huge repercussions that impact numerous species and processes, and can often lead to changes in ecosystem services that humans rely on.
Historically, the idea of old-growth forests as important natural systems was not the dominant perspective in our society. These ancient trees were once considered crops and perceived as “biological deserts.” Industrial logging in the 20th century removed most of the old growth, resulting in the younger forests we experience today. While some areas on federal land have been protected, allowing forests to regrow, there have also been large tracts of private land that are now managed for timber, and are cut every 50-80 years to meet the demand for timber.
A giant Douglas Fir disappears into the fog in Oregon’s Coast Range. The temperate rainforests of western Oregon have some of the highest potential to capture carbon of any forest type in the world, storing an average of 1,127 metric tons per hectare.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
Over the last 50 years, science has been working to understand how these impacts have changed forest ecosystems in the region. Beyond carbon sequestration, scientists are finding these environments play an important role in a multitude of ecosystem services, including water quantity and quality, and that management decisions can greatly impact these processes.
What have you learned that’s surprised you?
Looking beyond their physical beauty, scientists are discovering that old-growth forests are home to a network of almost unfathomable connections that showcase the importance and complexity of regions biodiversity. One of the greatest examples is the relationship between salmon and trees. Salmon are fundamental to the health of forest ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. As they return home to spawn and die, they bring with them a large pulse of nutrients that helps drive stream and forest ecosystems. By absorbing the nutrients from decaying fish, researchers have found that salmon actually provide nitrogen to trees, which is a limited nutrient in forest ecosystems. It’s even been discovered that certain tree species can grow up to three times faster when influenced by salmon. As populations of these vital fish continue to decline throughout the Pacific Northwest, scientists worry that trees and forests no longer receive nutrients they need to reach their full ecological potential.
A western red-backed salamander navigates the understory leaf litter in a mature forest in Oregon’s Coast Range. Researchers in the Northwest have found that woodland salamanders actually play an important role in carbon storage by feeding on invertebrates that release carbon.
David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
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David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
Beyond the salmon and trees, some of the largest surprises in these forests come from some of the smallest species, like salamanders. Due to the cryptic nature of these amphibians, it’s hard to grasp their true importance within an ecosystem, but recent research has demonstrated that these amphibians play an important role in the global carbon cycle.
In Northern California, scientists have revealed that, by hunting and preying on insects that spend their lives ripping, shredding and feeding on leaves — a behavior that actually releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — salamanders effectively prevent this carbon from entering the atmosphere and allow it to stay locked in leaves and on the forest floor.
A group of rough-skinned newts interact with a breeding pair of newts in a small pond in Oregon’s Coast Range Mountains.
David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
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David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
What is your process for documenting the wildlife in the forest? Do you need special equipment?
Working and photographing in old-growth forests definitely comes with a unique set of challenges, and through trial and error, I’ve been able to develop methods that work relatively well in these environments. Documenting these forests from an ecosystem perspective often means I need a wide range of gear. This includes everything from underwater housings and drysuits to document fish, to camera traps to photograph large mammals like bears.
For me, personally, I also really enjoy the process and exploration that goes into the creation of each photograph. For each image, this often results in many miles hiked, and snorkeled, to learn the best locations and approaches to photograph different species. Most days aren’t a great success, photographically speaking, but I love being in the forest, and with each outing, I feel like I learn a little more.
Biologists from Oregon State University survey for trout and amphibians in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. Tucked in the Cascade Mountain Range in western Oregon, this long-term ecological research site is one of the most studied old-growth ecosystems on the planet and has laid the foundation for how we understand forests worldwide.
David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
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David Herasimtschuk/Freshwaters Illustrated
Do you work with scientists studying forest ecosystems? If so, how does that collaboration work?
Working at the confluence of science, conservation and storytelling, I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with many passionate scientists working at the forefront of forest ecology. Much of the imagery created for this project has been guided and inspired by the research and science from H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, a forest co-managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University. Tucked in the Cascade Mountain Range in western Oregon, this long-term ecological research site is one of the most studied old-growth ecosystems on the planet and has laid the foundation for forest science, understanding and policy worldwide.
As we move forward in our approach to address climate change, finding engaging and novel ways to communicate science becomes more important than ever. Working closely with the researchers who are uncovering the importance and mysteries of our natural world, this project focuses on creating imagery that sparks curiosity and helps celebrate the interactions and relationships in nature that are difficult to see.
A young black-tailed deer blends in among a pair of decomposing Douglas fir snags in Oregon’s Coast Range. Providing critical habitat for over one hundred species, snags help create locations for nesting, shelter and foraging, and are an incredibly important component to healthy old-growth ecosystems.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
What are some of your favorite images?
I think some of my favorite images so far for this project have been the ones created using camera traps. Communicating the size of old-growth trees is often difficult, so it’s helpful to have a subject in the image to convey scale. Few species symbolize wild environments better than mountain lions and bears, so to be able to create images of these elusive predators as they explore their old-growth habitats is truly special.
Navigating a maze of giant Douglas firs, a large black bear explores its home in one of the last old-growth stands left in Oregon’s Coast Range. These towering trees provide important habitat for bears, who use tree cavities as denning sites for their young and for hibernation.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
Creating a useful image with a camera trap can often take months of work and fine-tuning, and even then, it’s rare to get the shot you hoped for. The cameras sit in the forests for long periods of time, exposed to the elements and curious wildlife. It’s not uncommon to return to a trap to find it has been dismantled by a bear or knocked over from falling trees and branches.
Yet, with a little luck and a lot of persistence, every now and then you create a photo where all the elements come together. These unique photos provide an intimate perspective of these environments that few have ever seen, making them a valuable tool to help teach audiences about the importance of these forests.
What do you want people to come away with after looking at these images?
As the climate and planet continue to change, many people are trying to understand and grasp how the natural world is connected to their everyday lives. So often, the question is asked, what is the value of an individual species? Or what is the value of biodiversity? By creating storytelling imagery that helps audiences recognize the relevance of forest life, my hope is that this project will engage and inform audiences about the importance of old-growth ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. Bringing to attention the individual species and relationships within ecosystems that play a role in maintaining our planet, my goal is to spark curiosity and wonder, encouraging people to want to learn more.
As our demand and impact on forests continues to grow worldwide, I believe images and stories of the environments and species affected will play a critical role in visually connecting forest ecosystems to their would-be stewards. Understanding the importance of biodiversity and how forests function is a critical part in creating that connection.
A hiker photographs a large western hemlock in an old-growth forest in Oregon’s Coast Range. Coastal forests in the region have some of the highest carbon-storing potential of any forest type in the world.
David Herasimtschuk
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David Herasimtschuk
David Herasimtschuk is a documentary photographer whose work focuses on forest and freshwater environments. You can find more of his photography on his website, DavidHerasimtschuk.com, and on Instagram, at @davidherasimtschuk.
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Brass bands in Beijing make way for sticker shock at home as Trump returns to escalating inflation
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump returned from the spectacle of a Chinese state visit to a less than welcoming U.S. economy — with the military band and garden tour in Beijing giving way to pressure over how to fix America’s escalating inflation rate.
Consumer inflation in the United States increased to 3.8% annually in April, higher than what he inherited as the Iran war and the Republican president’s own tariffs have pushed up prices. Inflation is now outpacing wage gains and effectively making workers poorer. The Cleveland Federal Reserve estimates that annual inflation could reach 4.2% in May as the war has kept oil and gasoline prices high.
Trump’s time with Chinese leader Xi Jinping appears unlikely to help the U.S. economy much, despite Trump’s claims of coming trade deals. The trip occurred as many people are voting in primaries leading into the November general election while having to absorb the rising costs of gasoline, groceries, utility bills, jewelry, women’s clothing, airplane tickets and delivery services. Democrats see the moment as a political opportunity.
“He’s returning to a dumpster fire,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal think tank focused on economic issues. “The president will not have the faith and confidence of the American people — the economy is their top issue and the president is saying, ‘You’re on your own.’”
The president’s trip to Beijing and his recent comments that indicated a tone-deafness to voters’ concerns about rising prices have suggested his focus is not on the American public and have undermined Republicans who had intended to campaign on last year’s tax cuts as helping families.
Trump described the trip as a victory, saying on social media that Xi “congratulated me on so many tremendous successes,” as the U.S. president has praised their relationship.
Trump told reporters that Boeing would be selling 200 aircraft — and maybe even 750 “if they do a good job” — to the Chinese. He said American farmers would be “very happy” because China would be “buying billions of dollars of soybeans.”
“We had an amazing time,” Trump said as he flew home on Air Force One, and told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview that gasoline prices were just some “short-term pain” and would “drop like a rock” once the war ends.
Inflationary pain is not a factor in how Trump handles Iran
Trump departed from the White House for China by saying the negotiations over the Iran war depended on stopping Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
That remark prompted blowback because it suggested to some that Trump cared more about challenging Iran than fighting inflation at home. Trump defended his words, telling Fox News: “That’s a perfect statement. I’d make it again.”
The White House has since stressed that Trump is focused on inflation.
Asked later about the president’s words, Vice President JD Vance said there had been a “misrepresentation” of the remarks. White House spokesman Kush Desai said the “administration remains laser-focused on delivering growth and affordability on the homefront” while indicating actions would be taken on grocery prices.
But as Trump appeared alongside Xi, new reports back home showed inflation rising for businesses and interest rates climbing on U.S. government debt.
His comments that Boeing would sell 200 jets to China caused the company’s stock price to fall because investors had expected a larger number. There was little concrete information offered about any trade agreements reached during the summit, including Chinese purchases of U.S. exports such as liquefied natural gas and beef.
“Foreign policy wins can matter politically, but only if voters feel stability and affordability in their daily lives,” said Brittany Martinez, a former Republican congressional aide who is the executive director of Principles First, a center-right advocacy group focused on democracy issues.
“Midterms are almost always a referendum on cost of living and public frustration, and Republicans are not immune from the same inflation and affordability pressures that hurt Democrats in recent cycles,” she added.
Democrats see Trump as vulnerable
Democratic lawmakers are seizing on Trump’s comments before his trip as proof of his indifference to lowering costs. There is potential staying power of his remarks as Americans head into Memorial Day weekend facing rising prices for the hamburgers and hot dogs to be grilled.
“What Americans do not see is any sympathy, any support, or any plan from Trump and congressional Republicans to lower costs – in fact, they see the opposite,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Thursday.
Vance faulted the Biden administration for the inflation problem even though the inflation rate is now higher than it was when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 with a specific mandate to fix it.
“The inflation number last month was not great,” Vance said Wednesday, but he then stressed, “We’re not seeing anything like what we saw under the Biden administration.”
Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 under Biden, a Democrat. By the time Trump took the oath of office, it was a far more modest 3%.
Trump’s inflation challenge could get harder
The data tells a different story as higher inflation is spreading into the cost of servicing the national debt.
Over the past week, the interest rate charged on 10-year U.S. government debt jumped from 4.36% to 4.6%, an increase that implies higher costs for auto loans and mortgages.
“My fear is that the layers of supply shocks that are affecting the U.S. economy will only further feed into inflationary pressures,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon.
Daco noted that last year’s tariff increases were now translating into higher clothing prices. With the Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s ability to impose tariffs by declaring an economic emergency, his administration is preparing a new set of import taxes for this summer.
Daco stressed that there have been a series of supply shocks. First, tariffs cut into the supply of imports. In addition, Trump’s immigration crackdown cut into the supply of foreign-born workers. Now, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off the vital waterway used to ship 20% of global oil supplies.
“We’re seeing an erosion of growth,” Daco said.
Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, the Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, said she was fired from the agency Friday after she declined to resign.
She said she did not know who had ordered her firing or why, nor whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. knew of her fate. The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The departure reflected the upheaval at the F.D.A., days after the resignation of Dr. Marty Makary, the agency commissioner. Dr. Makary had become a lightning rod for critics of the agency’s decisions to reject applications for rare disease drugs and to delay a report meant to supply damaging evidence about the abortion drug mifepristone. He also spent months before his departure pushing back on the White House’s requests for him to approve more flavored vapes, the reason he ultimately cited for leaving.
Dr. Hoeg’s hiring had startled public health leaders who were familiar with her track record as a vaccine skeptic, and she played a leading role in some of the agency’s most divisive efforts during her tenure. She worked on a report that purportedly linked the deaths of children and young adults to Covid vaccines, a dossier the agency has not released publicly. She was also the co-author of a document describing Mr. Kennedy’s decision to pare the recommendations for 17 childhood vaccines down to 11.
But in an interview on Friday, Dr. Hoeg said she “stuck with the science.”
“I am incredibly proud of the work we were doing,” Dr. Hoeg said, adding, “I’m glad that we didn’t give in to any pressures to approve drugs when it wasn’t appropriate.”
As the director of the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, she was a political appointee in a role that had been previously occupied by career officials. An epidemiologist who was trained in the United States and Denmark, she worked on efforts to analyze drug safety and on a panel to discuss the use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the most widely prescribed class of antidepressants, during pregnancy. She also worked on efforts to reduce animal testing and was the agency’s liaison to an influential vaccine committee.
She made sure that her teams approved drugs only when the risk-benefit balance was favorable, she said.
The firing worsens the leadership vacuum at the F.D.A. and other agencies, with temporary leaders filling the role of commissioner, food chief and the head of the biologics center, which oversees vaccines and gene therapies. The roles of surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also unfilled.
The U.S. Supreme Court
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The U.S. Supreme Court refused Friday to allow Virginia to use a new congressional map that favored Democrats in all but one of the state’s U.S. House seats. The map was a key part of Democrats’ effort to counter the Republican redistricting wave set off by President Trump.
The new map was drawn by Democrats and approved by Virginia voters in an April referendum. But on May 8, the Supreme Court of Virginia in a 4-to-3 vote declared the referendum, and by extension the new map, null and void because lawmakers failed to follow the proper procedures to get the issue on the ballot, violating the state constitution.
Virginia Democrats and the state’s attorney general then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to put into effect the map approved by the voters, which yields four more likely Democratic congressional seats. In their emergency application, they argued the Virginia Supreme Court was “deeply mistaken” in its decision on “critical issues of federal law with profound practical importance to the Nation.” Further, they asserted the decision “overrode the will of the people” by ordering Virginia to “conduct its election with the congressional districts that the people rejected.”
Republican legislators countered that it would be improper for the U.S. Supreme Court to wade into a purely state law controversy — especially since the Democrats had not raised any federal claims in the lower court.
Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Republicans without explanation leaving in place the state court ruling that voided the Democratic-friendly maps.
The court’s decision not to intervene was its latest in emergency requests for intervention on redistricting issues. In December, the high court OK’d Texas using a gerrymandered map that could help the GOP win five more seats in the U.S. House. In February, the court allowed California to use a voter-approved, Democratic-friendly map, adopted to offset Texas’s map. Then in March, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the redrawing of a New York map expected to flip a Republican congressional district Democratic.
And perhaps most importantly, in April, the high court ruled that a Louisiana congressional map was a racial gerrymander and must be redrawn. That decision immediately set off a flurry of redistricting efforts, particularly in the South, where Republican legislators immediately began redrawing congressional maps to eliminate long established majority Black and Hispanic districts.
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