Seen from space, this patch of forest looks like a giant chessboard, thanks to its gridded control system and snow cover. (Image courtesy of NASA/ISS) AT A GLANCE
Where is it? Whitetail Butte, Priest River, Idaho [48.411815594, -116.84501960]
What's in the photo? A forest plot divided into squares using a grid-based land management system.
Who took the photo? An unnamed astronaut aboard the International Space Station.
When was this done? January 4, 2017
This intriguing photo taken by an astronaut shows a patch of land in Idaho that looks remarkably like a giant chessboard from space. The strange pattern is the result of an environmental initiative that has been going on for nearly 200 years.
This aerial photo shows a stretch of land along the Priest River in the mountains of northern Idaho, about 40 miles south of the Canadian border. The closest landmark is Whitetail Butte, a wildfire lookout point located at a large bend in the river (about halfway along the river in the photo).
The “checkerboard” is about 5 miles (8 km) wide at its widest point and is made up of about 185 squares, although not all of them are visible in this photograph. Each square covers about 1.4 million square feet (130,000 square meters) — about the same size as 24 football fields.
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The scheme is the result of a grid-based forest management initiative dating back to the 19th century. Alternating squares were cut for timber, allowing enough trees to remain to support the forest ecosystem while new ones grew, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
New trees are then planted in the empty squares. When the trees are fully grown, the trees in alternating squares are harvested and the cycle begins again. This photo was probably taken just a few years after the last harvest.
The pattern is emphasized by the snow that has settled on the seedlings in the “empty” white squares. The plaid is visible in summer as well. However, the difference between some of the light and dark squares is much smaller, as they look like different shades of green.
Workers transported timber down the Priest River using a method known as “log driving,” which involved standing on rafts and pushing them down the river. This photo was taken in the 1940s.
This photo was taken just before sunset, so some of the mountain slopes are glowing while others are covered in long shadows due to the low angle of the sun.
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The Priest River, part of the Columbia River Basin, was formerly used to transport timber from the region to sawmills in other parts of Idaho and beyond. Traditionally, this was done by “logging”: rafts of logs were floated down the river, often with people standing on top of them using long poles to guide the rafts and keep them from getting stuck.
However, in the 1990s this practice was stopped to allow for more rational use of the river for recreational purposes.
Now the logs are transported by road, and if you look closely you can see the faint line of a specially built road for trucks running diagonally through several squares of the checkered forest.
TOPICS Earth from Space
Harry BakerNavigate Social LinksSenior Staff Writer
Harry is a senior writer for Live Science based in the UK. Before becoming a journalist, he studied marine biology at the University of Exeter. He covers a wide range of topics, including space exploration, planetology, space weather, climate change, animal behaviour and palaeontology. His recent work on solar maximum won the 2024 Aerospace Media Awards in the Best Space Story category and was shortlisted for the 2023 NCTJ Awards for Excellence in the Breaking News category. He also writes Live Science’s weekly series Earth from Space.
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