The mighty Congo River has become a highway for sprawling flotillas of logs — African teak, wenge and bomanga in colors of licorice, candy bars and carrot sticks. For months at a time, crews in the Democratic Republic of Congo live aboard these perilous rafts, piloting the timber in pursuit of a sliver of profit from the dismantling of a crucial forest. Dionne Searcey, a climate reporter at The New York Times, and photographer Ashley Gilbertson traveled 500 miles along the Congo River and its tributaries to explore the forces driving deforestation.