The Ross Cedars grove just south of Troy, Montana is one of the most beautiful western red cedar forests remaining in the Intermountain West. These redwood-size monarchs are 700 to 800 years old, and bear the scars of numerous fires. They've most likely survived because the canyon bottom in which they grow is moist and runs east to west, so not much sun reaches the forest floor. If you'd like to visit this grove, travel south from Troy on State Route 56. Just south of Bull Lake you'll see a Kootenai National Forest sign directing you to the grove. It's about four miles west on a well maintained road.

This beautiful hardwood forest is owned by the people of the State of Indiana. Most people don't associate Indiana with forests, but the southern half of the state is heavily forested and supports a robust hardwood industry that makes everything from pallets used in grocery stores to fine office furniture and very expensive wall paneling.

On the night of August 20, 1910, a wildfire of unimaginable fury cross the fog shrouded summit in the distance, headed east into Montana. Driven by hurricane-force winds, the Great 1910 Fire - the largest in U.S. history - incinerated more than two million acres of timberland in northern Idaho and western Montana in two terrifying days and nights. Ninety-eight years later, this forest stands as testament to nature's resiliency and a replanting effort that took years to complete.

Idaho's old Bunker Hill Company - once one of the largest lead-silver mining and smelting operations in the world - planted more than two million pine and fir seedlings on the barren hills around Kellogg. The seedlings, which were grown in an underground greenhouse in the mine in the 1970s, are now 30 to 40 feet tall. Look closely on the far right and you'll see one of the stacks at the company's old smelter. Both the smelter and its stacks are gone now.

A drift boat slips quietly down the North Fork of the Flathead River in Northwest Montana. The North Fork travels through some of Montana's most spectacular scenery, including the western perimeter of Glacier National Park. The fishing is good, though not nearly as good as the Flathead's South Fork, which travels out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Still, the North Fork is well worth a day-long float. Be sure to bring your camera.

If you enjoy fly-fishing for steelhead [who wouldn't], southern Oregon's Rogue River is a great place to limber up your rod. Here I am (Jim Petersen) on an overcast morning in the early spring sometime in the early 1990s. I rarely keep fish, but on this day I wanted to bake on for dinner. That's Rick Miranda behind me - beyond doubt one of the best guides on the river and a spectacular fly-tier. Who would ever guess that Mr. Miranda is also one of the most skilled loggers in southern Oregon. I am sorry to say that I lost track of him nearly a decade ago.

Two young bicyclists peddle up an old logging road in the George Washington Grove, a red pine hideaway in the Superior National Forest in the summer of 1999. Civilian Conservation Corps tree planters planted this forest, only minutes from Grand Marias, Minnesota, in the 1930s. Grand Marias has become such a haven for tourists that the Forest Service decided the grove ought to be set aside in perpetuity. It's very pretty, but the sawmill less than five miles from here paid a dear price for the loss of access to these trees.

A hiker in the Wild & Scenic Area along southern Oregon's Rogue River near Paradise Lodge. This photograph was taken just above Blossom Bar and Devil's Staircase, for boaters and rafters two of the toughest stretches along the entire course of this river. Paradise is a fine lodge, but it is best reached by powerboats that traverse the river from Gold Beach. The Rogue is a fine salmon and steelhead fishery. Be sure to bring your camera. The scenery is breathtaking, especially in the spring and fall.

A lone caneist plies the quiet waters of an unknown stream not far from southern Oregon's Klamath Lake. This is big ponderosa pine country. At one time, there were several sawmills in the town of Klamath Falls, but the collapse of the federal timber sale program has devastated the once bustling community.

Beauty and solitude are in the eye of the beholder, as is the case with this beautiful spring setting in Central Park, just off Park Avenue near the old Plaza Hotel. Many New Yorkers consider this well designed park to be their "wilderness area," but it is actually an engineering marvel that includes many ponds, an ice skating rink and a zoo. The park, which was completed in 1873, features more than 4 million trees, shrubs and plants. More than 25 million visit here every year. The park is easily walked, or you can tour it at night in a horse-drawn carriage.