“Beauty for Ashes” read the marquee sign in front of Living Water Family Fellowship church, as we drove through the town of Blue River on a cloudy day earlier this year. The barren landscape was littered with standing dead trees, otherwise known as snags. Although the Holiday Farm Fire of 2020 was over four years ago, remnants of its force remain scattered throughout this region of the McKenzie River Valley. Towns devastated by the fire included Blue River, Finn Rock, Nimrod, Vida, and Leaburg. The fire burned through more than 173,000 acres over a two-month period, starting on September 7, making it one of the worst wildfires on record in Oregon.

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