A Talent for Sloth
My lookout tower is situated five miles from the nearest road, on a ten-thousand-foot peak in the Gila National Forest. I live here for several months each year, without electricity or running water. Although tens of thousands of acres are touched by fire here every year, I can go weeks without seeing a twist of smoke. During these lulls I simply watch and wait, my eyes becoming ever more intimate with an ecological transition zone encompassing dry grasslands, pinon-juniper foothills, ponderosa parkland, and spruce-fir high country.
Author:
Source:
Lapham’s Quarterly
Published: Mar 16, 2011
Length: 12 minutes (3,065 words)