Priceless Seeds, Sprouts Key to US West's Post-fire Future

This May 18, 2022 image shows nursery manager Tammy Parsons thinning aspen seedlings at a greenhouse in Santa Fe, N.M. Parsons and her colleagues evacuated an invaluable collection of seeds and tens of thousands of seedlings from the New Mexico State University's Forestry Research Center in Mora, New Mexico, as the largest fire burning in the U.S. approached the facility. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Associated Press

May 22, 2022 at 4:10 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

(AP) -- A New Mexico facility where researchers work to restore forests devastated by fires faced an almost cruelly ironic threat: The largest wildfire burning in the U.S. was fast approaching.

Owen Burney and his team knew they had to save what they could. Atop their list was a priceless bank of millions of ponderosa pine, spruce and other conifer seeds meant to help restore fire-ravaged landscapes across the American West.