Amid forest fires and watering bans, air-quality alerts and atmospheric rivers, we see a new culture arising among people who go hiking in the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest. How might these new folk seek to reconcile past Western land-management practices and contemporary conflicting cultural histories? What timely knowledge might such a society offer in the midst of planetary crisis? In landscapes of rapid change, alongside those who’ve known the land far longer than modernity allows, the goods dreamt up by these Anthropocene wanderers have evolved from speculative niches in academia to a burgeoning bazaar of Pollyanna technologies and nuanced neo-tribal narratives spanning a spectrum from savvy hope to existential despair. Perhaps they signal an emerging reconciliation between conflicting cultural histories of land use in the forested backcountry of the Cascades?

Anthropologists posit that every artifact possesses a cultural backstory legible in design—every stitch, every screw an archive of creativity and folk knowledge. Some of these narratives speak through vagaries of form—the mouth-sized spout on a canteen; the flared axe handle, smoothed and weighted for ergonomically-efficient destruction. Other stories are only revealed upon rigorous research, including the acquisition, restoration, and re-creation of objects long lost or never known by outsiders. In this way, every object in the Forest Fashion collection communicates a story of human creativity, resiliency, and adaptation.

Environmental Wayfinding System

Building off traditional “hobo” pictographs, the Environmental Wayfinding System (EWS) is a reimagined folk communication system that serves as a graphic survival-code for people navigating environmental collapse in the Anthropocene. A living graphic language constantly evolving in response to ecological developments and human understanding, EWS is often informally shared among its users, and has been recorded across North America, ranging from the scorched mountains of the Pacific Northwest, to the desiccated fly-over flats of the Dust Bowl 2.0 region, to the swamped back alleys of American coastal cities, most notably Washington, D.C.

Strong resilient communities share information freely. So, it is not surprising to see EWS symbols incorporated into a remarkable range of handmade objects as a means to educate others within the community. Documented examples of EWS objects include camping equipment, hiking gear, heirloom quilts, furniture, hand tools, and even toys and clothing for children. The Forest Fashion, Lookout Edition collection is a prime example of a wonderfully diverse collection of EWS inspired material culture.

Although there is a growing movement to standardize the EWS phenomenon, in an effort to make it more accessible across all resiliency-indexed social strata, EWS is a vernacular graphic language that varies from one ecological region to the next, influenced by local environmental legacies and cultural practices. The EWS symbols associated with the Forest Fashion, Lookout Edition reflects the genius loci of the Pacific Northwest Forests.

Salvage Cut Cookie Quilt

Contrary to popular belief, a warm quilt for a warming planet is an essential item for survival. Made of lightweight breathable cotton with a petrol-based, highly flammable batting fill, the Salvage Cut Cookie Quilt provides warmth and comfort for a good night’s rest. It doesn’t quite pack down to inch by inch by inch like those newfangled Prada sleeping bags, and it weighs half a ton. But this cozy quilt sets the stage for bedtime ghost stories and brings a taste of home to the remote mountaintop.

This quilt is adorned with silkscreened prints of a 40-year-old Douglas-fir tree cookie rescued from a Wildlife Habitat Restoration Unit (a product of the Northwest Forest Plan, May 1994) on BLM land in Lane County, Oregon. The red stitch work reflects common, and a couple uncommon, cut patterns of milled plantation timber. This quilt also features hand-stitched graphic language from the Environmental Wayfinding System, indicating the quilt makers are attuned to a network of people collectively navigating environmental collapse within their local communities.

Salvage Cut Cookie Quilt, silkscreened duck canvas, cotton fabric, and thread, 40 x 80 inches, 2022. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Helen Popinchalk, Madison Sanders, and Nancy Silvers.

EWS Map Case

The EWS Map-N-Chart Case is a faithful reproduction of an iconic map case favored by long-distance through-hikers, wildfire fighters, and USFS lookout personnel. As such, the waxed-canvas case is almost waterproof and offers two see-through UV-resistant polymer windows for viewing maps, reports, conversion tables, and EWS charts. The map case also boasts an internal pocket for essential Rite in the Rain field books, and two felt hoops: one for a dry-erase marker and the other for an EWS grease pencil. The case features four steel D-rings for easily lashing the case to shoulder straps, backpacks, pack mules, or a low-torque electric-powered ATV.

EWS Map-N-Chart Case, cotton canvas, felt, museum board, Canadian paper pulp, polymer, thread, 13 x 15 x 2 inches, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden and Nancy Silvers.

Mega Drought Dehydration Canteen Gauge

This Mega Drought Dehydration Gauge Canteen belonged to a young scientist who studied snowpack modeling for flood forecasting, water resource management, and climate studies. The scientist was lost in an avalanche during the late winter 2021 field research season in the Cascades of Southern Washington. His hand-engraved canteen was found the following summer off the coast of Sendai in the Tohoku region of Northeast Japan. At the time of retrieval, the canteen contents still smelled of sour coffee.

Mega Drought Dehydration Canteen, etched aluminum surplus canteen (40-ounce), enamel paint, para cord, 9 x 5 x 3, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Gallows Humor, Blake Schouten, and Nancy Silvers.

Tandem Timber Haul Straps

This pair of moving straps, along with other two-person tools, such as the “misery whip” saw, are categorically “slow and low” impact logging tools. This functional pair of straps are “faithful reproductions,” on loan from the Fancy Silverston. Nonetheless, they are prime examples of early timber technology. Interestingly, the 1/8” satin-stitch EWS symbols spin contrasting tales of radical environmental protection (top strap) and tough guy timber corporate testimony (bottom strap). These particular EWS symbols are a lovely example of critical, narrative-driven, material culture. Conceptually, the pair of haul straps seem to communicate an opposing, yet balanced, sustainable collaborative forest management practice. This fact makes this EWS themed artifact of particular interest to both enviros and timber beasts alike.

Tandem Timber Haul Straps, heavy-weight cotton canvas, wood handles, para cord, thread, 9 x 48 x 1 inches, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Blake Schouten, Nancy Silvers, and Ian Escher Vierck.

Cathartes Aura Cooling Bag

Most water is not for drinking. This curious-looking canvas handbag is modeled off antique water bags that were once used at remote logging sites for cooling down overheated horses, oxen, and “steam donkeys.” Loggers would fill the water bags with cold mountain run-off and then cache the bloated bags in snow pack. During late summer heat waves, these water bags were also administered to loggers suffering from sunstroke or “Vita-D Poisoning,” as the condition was known by some PNW sawyers. The abstract graphic on the bag’s face captures the likeness of the breezy cleaner, Cathartes aura, commonly known as the turkey vulture. The vulture image was intended to prompt meditations on high atmospheric heat, low water levels, and a short life punctuated by a long death.

Cathartes Aura Cooling Bag, cotton canvas, upcycled tin spout and clasp, recycled plastic cap, thread, para cord, and wood handle, 12 x 10 x .25 inches, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Asa DeWitt, Nancy Silvers, and Sabine Winkler.

Commemorative Chainsaw Oil Cans

These small oil cans, a rare find to say the least, were discovered in the McKenzie River Ranger Station parking lot on Route 126 in Blue River, OR in the winter of 2023. The hand-etched chainsaw oil cans appear to be a logger’s commemoration of successful (profitable and injury-free) Holiday Farm Fire salvage logging operations. The customized objects are a prime example of “Lumberjack Art,” a material culture term used by anthropologists to describe objects made from tools and debris in the context of logging operations, especially in the off hours at logging camps. This class of folk art has become increasingly prized by collectors as traditional saws, public working forests, and the working class that cut these forests dwindle with each passing harvest season.

Although it looks like a mangled work glove, the organic figure-ground form (Image A) captures the geographic extent of the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire, AKA the 200430 wildfire incident according to the United States Forest Service. A third of this etched map is crosshatched in red paint to represent the total area of salvage logging operations within the boundaries of the Holiday Farm Fire. On the flip side of the etched can (Image B) is the wildfire start date, 200430 incident number, and the words, “Owl Gulch Salv.” Researchers surmise that the can’s maker participated in the “Owl Gulch” salvage logging operation. The can’s screw tops feature a red saw-scared stump and a black nurse stump with two distinct emerging evergreen saplings.

Commemorative Oil Cans, etched steel, dirt, blood, and paint, 2.5 x 2.5 x 1 inch, 2023. Collaborators: Rachel Benbrook, David Buckley Borden, and Blake Schouten.

Hot Log Mitts

This pair of restored Hot Log Mitts were discovered in 2022 in a long-forgotten storage space in an old dairy barn just outside of Tillamook, Oregon. These emergency fire mitts are remarkably bulky, but necessary when surprise wildfires douse any superficial notions of fashion. The mitt’s off-white color initially puzzled design-researchers. They now believe the mitts were made from light-colored material in order to highlight any burn holes or tears in the flame-retardant wool. Yet others posit the white material was used in the spirit of the old saying; “Good wood is the wood you got.”

Hot Log Mitts, cotton canvas, felt, thread, wood dowels, insulated with common sense and precaution, 8 x 15 x 4 inches, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Sabine Winkler, and Nancy Silvers.

Lil’ Hot Log Mitts

A smaller (baby-sized) pair of Lil’ Hot Log Mitts were also discovered in a nearby hops barn and reunited with the larger parent pair in 2023. The two sets of mitts appear to be made by the same crafts-person, in terms of material, stitch work, and design details, for example, the “Right” and “Left” scripted pull-on tabs found on each pair of mitts.

Lil’ Hot Log Mitts, cotton canvas, felt, thread, wood dowels, insulated with common sense and parental care, 2 x 3 x 8 inches, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Sabine Winkler, and Nancy Silvers.

Comfy Camp Slippers

The Comfy Camp Slippers are an interesting modern hybrid of vintage trail slippers, house shoes, and crocs. Some lookout towers and cabs are a “please, take off your shoes” sort of space. In the ol’ tradition of back-40 thrift, these comfy camp slippers (size 9.5 women’s, wide) appear to be fashioned from materials on hand (felt, cardboard, and a decommissioned fireproof personnel tent). These slippers keep toes toasty (but not toasted) when the sun sets, temp drops, and the “owl coos for yous.” The top-side satin-stitched “Comfy Camp” EWS symbol makes these hand-fashioned slippers a bona fide, coveted luxury accessory in any fashion camp, high or low.

Comfy Camp Slippers, up-cycled fireproof wildfire fighter tent, felt, thread, museum board, 3 x 4 x 9 inches, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Nancy Silvers, and Sabine Winkler.

Lil’ Boo Comfy Camp Slippers

Little boos need creature comforts too. These kiddie-sized T-3 Comfy Camp Slippers are the ultimate in fawning camp-parenting.

Lil’ Boo Comfy Camp Slippers, up-cycled fireproof wildfire fighter tent lining, felt, thread, museum board, size T3, 2 x 3 x 5 inches, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Nancy Silvers, and Sabine Winkler.

Doug-Fir Cookie Eye Pillow

How can lookouts under the threat of wildfires sleep at night? It has something to do with soft cotton eye pillows and stiff nightcaps in little tin cups. The Douglas Cookie Eye Pillow also works wonders for arboreal dreams of Oregon plums and sugar pine cone drops on those bright full moon nights.

Doug-Fir Cookie Eye Pillow, cotton canvas, elastic band, thread, and patience, 7 x 4 x .125 inches, 2022. Collaborators, David Buckley Borden, Nancy Silvers, and Sabine Winkler.

Five Gallon Forest Flask

The Five Gallon Forest Flask can be a wildfire lookout’s savior. This particular customized fire extinguisher backpack features a five-gallon capacity chrome-plated aluminum tank, remote heat and humidity sensors, OTF knife with clip, and a ventilated air-cooled backrest. The brass slide-action pump is hand-operated and paired with a rugged thirty-inch double-braided oil-resistant hose. The tank’s carrying handle has clamps for securing the pump, and holes for attaching heavy-duty canvas shoulder straps. Apparently, shoulder straps were available in “suspender red” cotton webbing or off-white cotton canvas with felt padding for shoulder comfort. The high-viz EWS graphic on the backpack is equal parts safety feature and district statement to which the Forest Flask belonged. This Forest Flask has no apparent makers-mark, nor agency brand.

Five Gallon Forest Flask, 2 oz. etched aluminum 5 gal. canister, rubber hose, metal knife, bronze water pump, tin telescopic antenna, sensors, acrylic paint, and assorted hardware, 7 x 12 x 15 inches, 13 lbs. net weight, 2023. Collaborators: David Buckley Borden, Blake Schouten, Nancy Silvers, and Ian Escher Vierck.

Trapper Keeper

The Trapper Keeper, packed with a variety of field tech, survival gear, and choice creature comforts, is essential to support a lookout’s long trek to remote destinations such as the supply shed, bunkhouse, weather station, and the wildfire lookout tower itself. The Trapper Keeper is not a backpack, it’s a mobile support system for backcountry lookout-tower personnel. This particular pack is a modification of the trad government-issued wood-frame design. This upgrade features tactical pockets for bodily autonomy, padded chest straps for durability, a plywood frame for easy peel-and-burn kindling, a wet tube for bare-root saplings, and a reinforced cotton lining featuring a decoded Environmental Wayfinding System print.

Trapper Keeper, mixed-media backpack, cotton canvas, silkscreened muslin, furniture plywood, plastic tubes, tree saplings, paracord, rubber band, nickel grommets, and assorted thread and hardware, dimensions vary on payload but generally 8 x 20 x 30 inches, 2022. Collaborators

The Forest Fashion collaboration was funded by design-research grants to David Buckley Borden as part of his Fuller Design Fellowship at the Fuller Initiative for Productive Landscapes at the University of Oregon. Additional financial support for project fabrication was provided by the Oregon State University Foundation’s Andrews Fund as part of Borden’s design research residency at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. Collaborating landscape architecture graduate students at the University of Oregon were also funded through the sale of artwork on this website.

Nancy Silvers’ Trapper Keeper collaboration was funded by the Ford Family Foundation through a grant to David Buckley Borden and Colin Ives via the Center for Art Research at the University of Oregon.

Forest Fashion collaborators: Rachel Benbrook, William Bonner, David Buckley Borden, Asa DeWitt, Isaac Martinotti, Helen Popinchalk, Kennedy Rauh, Nancy Silvers, Madison Sanders, Blake Schouten, Ian Escher Vierck, and Sabine Winkler.