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A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 29 OcTOber 2019
Fire-ravaged forests get help from pine cone collectors

Associated Press 100 lives were lost in Califor-
ALONG THE BURNT MESA nia, with the Camp Fire ac-
TRAIL, N.M. (AP) — With counting for most of those
snow ready to fall, the deaths. Nationwide, more
scramble was on to collect than 25,000 structures were
as many ponderosa pine destroyed.
cones as possible. Far less land has burned
A crew outfitted with spurs, this year, but scientists are
ropes and hard hats scaled confident in their predic-
hefty tree trunks and tions that the combination
used long clippers to snip of overgrown forests and
branches loaded with the hotter, drier conditions in-
prickly orbs. crease the threat of cata-
The cones being gathered strophic fires.
in the Jemez Mountains of Santa Clara Pueblo has
northern New Mexico rep- been among the hard-
resent the fruits of a bum- est hit in New Mexico, with
per crop. Every decade or much of its watershed de-
so, the trees turn out more stroyed by fire in 2011. San-
seeds to ensure future doval said the tribe is fortu-
propagation as a hedge nate because it began col-
against hungry predators lecting native seed years
and whatever other hur- earlier and had built up its
dles nature might throw at own seed bank of ponder-
the species. osa, Douglas fir, spruce and
The cones will be dried, other pine variations.
their seeds cleaned, sorted The pueblo has gathered
and grown into seedlings seeds from about 2.5 mil-
that can be used to refor- lion trees in over a decade,
est fire-scarred hillsides. he said. Some are stored in
Similar work is ongoing in In this Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, photo Ponderosa pine cones sit on a tree stump after being cut special freezers to ensure
Colorado, South Dakota open during a demonstration at Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos, N.M. they last another century.
and other places in the U.S. Associated Press Others are sent to nurseries
West. in New Mexico and Arizo-
With warmer temperatures, fall that has resulted from plication for natural recov- seed crew with the Ecologi- na, where they are grown
more frequent drought and back-to-back summer and ery," he said. "If the seed is cal Restoration Institute. for post-fire restoration ef-
the severity of wildfires on winter seasons of average not being produced, then "There's a lot of catastroph- forts.
the rise, scientists say seed to above-average rain and it can't get to the places ic elements like wildfire and Sandoval has one word
collection and reforesta- snow. This doesn't happen that are disturbed, then the drought. It's being exacer- for drought-hearty native
tion efforts are becoming often in the arid Southwest, chances for the ecosystem bated by climate change, seeds from lower eleva-
more important. and scientists say it could to recover to that forested and so the pool of native tions: "precious."
"We've had so many large, become more infrequent state are obviously pretty species that we're able Similar work is happening in
high-severity fires in the as the climate changes. low." to get seed from is shrink- the Black Hills of South Da-
state, and without our inter- Kyle Rodman, a post-doc- In comes Steven Sandoval ing because their envi- kota, where an estimated
vention there is a possibility toral research assistant and his forestry crew from ronments are getting de- 2 million trees have been
that some of those areas at the University of Colo- Santa Clara Pueblo, one stroyed," she said. planted since 2003. Ne-
will never be forests again," rado Boulder, studied the of dozens of partners in From their vantage point vada and Utah also have
said Sarah Hurteau with density of seedlings that the seed collecting effort. atop the mesa, the cone seed banks.
The Nature Conservancy in sprouted following fires be- Sandoval's crew has been pickers can see for miles This is the first year for col-
New Mexico. "What we're tween 1988 and 2010. In a charged with scouting past the monument lecting at Bandelier, where
trying to do is collect the study published this month, parts of Bandelier National boundary and deeper into officials have requested
seed to help reforest these he and his colleagues Monument to locate those the canyons that make up that the seeds from each
areas. This is a huge effort." found the absence of vi- ponderosa stands with the the Jemez Mountains. It's a tree be kept separate to
The goal: 1 million seeds. able seeds can drastically greatest potential. landscape that has seen ensure a genetic profile.
It might sound lofty, but hamper a forest's ability Cone picking is a science, several devastating fires in Crews also record details
those helping with the proj- to recover and that some much different than a lei- just the past 20 years. on the tree's location, ele-
ect in New Mexico and burned areas were more surely stroll through the Overall, the number of fires vation and measurements.
southern Colorado are vulnerable than others. woods to collect cones in the U.S. has decreased Earlier this fall, Bandelier
looking to take advantage "The ability of trees to pro- from the forest floor. Crew slightly over the past three planted 6,000 seedlings
of a rare bumper crop this duce seed has a huge im- members are looking for decades, but the num- from cones collected from
the perfect cones — no ber of acres burned is on the Jemez Mountains.
curves, no sap, no insect the rise. Every year since Some were planted in study
bore holes. 2000, an average of 10,900 plots that will be monitored
One such tree was stand- square miles (28,231 square to see what planting strate-
ing not far from the trail kilometers) have been gies work best.
atop Bandelier's Burnt charred, according to "We want to make the
Mesa. Loaded with cones, figures compiled by the best use of this resource,"
it took more than an hour National Interagency Fire said Kay Beeley, who has
to harvest. Center. worked at Bandelier for
Labor- and time-intensive, Last year marked a year of nearly three decades. "It's
but necessary, says Mer- particularly dangerous and renewable but not always
edith Prentice who leads a destructive fires. More than available."q