Can photography save old-growth forests? David Herasimtschuk hopes so

An Oregon artist’s photo project is garnering national publicity by opening eyes to an often-invisible world

Scaling down: Researchers survey for amphibians in H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest. Photo: David Herasimtschuk

By Kendra Chamberlain. Sept. 25, 2024. When David Herasimtschuk first arrived in Oregon in 2011, he envisioned snorkeling with massive schools of salmon, in rivers surrounded by towering old-growth trees. But that’s not exactly what he found. 

“After a few trips, reality hit hard—I realized I was probably 50 years too late,” Herasimtscuk tells Columbia Insight in an email. “While there were salmon, they were rare and infrequent, and the forests I walked through were nothing like the old-growth I had imagined.

“Instead, I found a patchwork of clear-cuts and second-growth, a shadow of the lush landscapes I had envisioned.”

Herasimtschuk, who studied wildlife biology at Colorado State University before turning to photography full time, is a few years into a long-term project to document remaining patches of older forests across the Pacific Northwest.

NPR recently highlighted Herasimtschuk’s work in an online article.

Herasimtschuk received a Vital Impacts Environmental Photography Grant for the project, which ultimately led to him pitching his project to NPR. 

“This old-growth forest project is a long-term undertaking, and often self-funded, so I’m always looking for opportunities to help support the work,” says Herasimtschuk. 

Strong connections: Rough-skinned newts congregate around roots and branches in Oregon’s McDonald and Dunn Research Forests. Photo: David Herasimtschuk

His photographs capture the wonder of old-growth: giant living structures whose scale is only understood by the starkly diminutive size of humans that appear in the photographs. 

Herasimtschuk’s photography de-centers humans, reminding us that the forests don’t exist for human benefit.

Some of his photography involves setting up his camera trap in a remote part of a forest. He sometimes leaves his gear out in the woods for long periods of time, hiking back to the spot and hoping he’s caught wildlife that may have wandered by.   

Happy trails: Herasimtschuk gets some of his best pics, like this black bear in Oregon’s Siuslaw National Forest, when humans aren’t around. Photo: David Herasimtschuk

Publicity he’s earned has helped raise awareness of old-growth forests and the intricate if underappreciated relationships within these ecosystems.

There’s one relationship in particular Herasimtschuk says he’s hoping to illustrate with photos: that between the Pacific Northwest’s threatened Oregon Coast Coho salmon and its old-growth forests.

Herasimtshuk calls the coho the “fish of the forest.”

Streaming service: Coho salmon benefit almost every part of the forest. Herasimtschuk has put in countless snorkel hours to capture them in places like the Siuslaw National Forest in the Oregon Coast Range. Photo: David Herasimtschuk

“Few species teach us more about the connection between rivers and forests better than coho salmon. From headwaters to estuaries, these fish utilize a wide variety of habitats within these watersheds, and are intricately tied to the foundation and health of these ecosystems,” says Herasimtschuk. “After years of work, and countless river miles snorkeled, this last winter I was able to create a few images that start to show these fish in an impacted forest landscape.

“My hope is that images like these can help illustrate the impacts of forest management on fish, like coho salmon, and that logging still remains as a major limiting factor in the conservation of this federally protected species.”

Herasimtschuk’s photographs can be viewed at his website.