Mission
Working to visually preserve the legacy of trees and forests, while creating awareness around the importance of preservation.
More About Gathering Growth Foundation
Since the 1600s, 90% of the virgin forests that once blanketed much of the lower 48 States have been logged. As the population continued to rise, forest fragmentation and degradation continues. This results in the significant loss of extensive areas of old-growth forest. According to one estimate, stands of the century-old forest now account for only 7% of forest cover in the United States. Most of the remaining old-growth forests in the lower 48 states and Alaska are on public lands.
Since 2017, Brian Kelley has documented 122 champion trees around the US as an ambassador for American Forests Big Tree Program. In 2019, the Gathering Growth Foundation was formed to expand upon this archive and put more emphasis on US forests and other trees of significance.
Gathering Growth continues to broaden its scope of documentation into working forests as a way of allowing the public to visually see different types of forests and the important role that they play in the world.
What is a Champion Tree?
Champion Trees are the largest of their species. In the U.S. there are 795 Champion Trees recorded by the environmental non-profit, American Forests.
Surviving the ravages of human and nature, their lives spanning hundreds and even thousands of years, these silent sentinels have watched history unfold around them.
Our Process
Using Google Earth, Gathering Growth has been able to map out roughly all Forests and Trees of interest. This has allowed an efficient strategy for documentation.
Every Forest and Tree is documented digitally and on large format film. Still-life photographs are made of the leaves and seeds. Additionally, audio recordings are taken to document the ambient noise present at these locations.
Audio interviews are recorded with experts in the field that act as educational storytellers to inform the public on these unique areas of interest.
All assets are then prepared to be presented in a cohesive format on our digital platform.
Monthly newsletters announcing recent postings and stories are sent out to our subscribers.
About Brian Kelley
Brian Kelley (b. 1988) is a photographer and archivist. Originally from Horseheads, NY. He moved to NYC in 2006 and received his B.F.A. in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in 2010. Kelley’s mixed-media approach has allowed him to pursue artwork with disruptive capacities—exhaustive research, slow & meditative composition, and the repurposing of photographic mediums—all employed to reveal the artifacts left behind by the precession of simulacra.
Kelley's artistic pursuit contributes to the cultural archive of American ephemera, building on series such as “Parks” which is a collection of over 300 United States national park maps, ephemera, and brochures spanning over 100 years. Currently, Kelley is based between Brooklyn and Lumberland, NY.