Letter From the Desert: Relict Populations

This weekend I left the desert. I spent time watching things go up in flames. Some of the flames were literal. My homeland is on fire. Tens of thousands of acres of California: on fire. Manzanita and ceanothus wilt and smolder, catch and burn. Live oaks and poison oak. Chamise and toyon. Pipevine and clematis. All of them surrounded by pale introduced g…