Isle Royale National Park Artist-in-Residence, 2022

recorded by Duo Sila: Amanda Dame, flute; Christina Manceor, vibraphone

On August 13, 2022—my first full day as artist-in-residence on Isle Royale—we set out for a half-day hike to Mount Franklin which turned into an all-day adventure with the emergence of the Mount Franklin Fire:

0:02 1. Spruce Forest – Warning of the Cranes — Before the fire, on a hillside overlooking Tobin Creek, the forest is peaceful, with birds and squirrels chirruping, and maybe a moose hiding in the bushes. There we first heard the cranes, depicted in the three-note ascending call which takes the vibraphone part in the middle section. Whenever we saw the cranes after the fire, they always seemed to be flying with a sense of urgency, although their destination was unclear.

5:04 2. Smoke Plumes (Canon) – Wildland Fire Response – Coming back from the Greenstone Ridge, we became increasingly confused and concerned, as we could see and smell smoke coming from somewhere that it probably should not be. Eventually, we turned a corner and saw flames licking through the undergrowth a few yards off the trail. The park’s response got into motion quickly, as rangers fanned out across that end of the island, both on land and on water, as to determine where the fire was and whether anyone was in danger. This movement portrays the ranger-firefighters who escorted a group of us across the island. Towards the end, it starts to dissolve into the material for the next movement as the mist puts a check on the fire’s growth.

10:47 3. Burned Out – It was really moving to go back a week later and see the area burned over by the fire, as well as the nearby scar from the Horne Fire the previous year. The ground was mostly ash and soot, and all the trees were scorched skeletons. In the older fire zone, without any grass or plant roots to hold the soil in place, the surface of the ground itself had caved in or slid downhill in places, uncovering glacial boulders and bedrock of the island. However, flowers like fireweed and daisy had sprinkled themselves throughout the entire burn area, making a striking burst of color against the gray and black. This reminded me of the poem “Fire-Flowers” by Emily Pauline Johnson which I had previously written a musical setting of. Out of a sparse beginning, the melody for “Fire-Flowers” gradually emerges.

14:40 4. Fire-F(ol)lowers (Fugue) – The term fire-followers refers to plants like fireweed that move in quickly to colonize the open space left by a fire. Being a fugue, this movement is based more on purely musical explorations than any specific part of the forest fire narrative. The fugue subject is loosely derived from the “Fire-Flowers” melody, with some ornaments to suggest the blooming and expansion of new plants. The new “florid” version of the melody alternates with the original melody, played slowly by the vibraphone.