Poplar Forest

Nearly 20 years ago, a plantation of hybrid poplar trees began sprouting up in the unlikely place of the irrigated high desert of Eastern Oregon.  There were no other trees for miles and miles around.  About every 7 years or so, the trees have been harvested for paper pulp, for small logs, and in the near future, the production of ethanol.  28,000 acres of the distinctive skinny trees extend south of I-84, the major highway running east-west across Oregon (and eventually into southern Idaho).   Today, in heavy fog caused by a lingering temperature inversion in the eastern part of the state, I stopped to photograph the trees.  This is a vertical view. 

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