Along the Burnt Mesa Trail in New Mexico, a seed crew goes out hunting for perfect pine cones: No curves. No holes from insects. No sap.

The crew is outfitted with spurs, ropes, and hard hats. They’re ready to scale hefty tree trunks and use long clippers to snip branches loaded with prickly ponderosa pine cones. The seeds inside each cone will be cleaned and sorted. Some will be saved. Others will be grown into seedlings. Either way, the seeds will help bring new life to fire-scarred hillsides.

The goal: one million seeds.

Pines produced a bumper crop of cones this year. The huge crop shows God’s design for new growth. Every decade or so, trees produce extra seeds, which hide protected inside pine cones. Their bounty is a welcome gift. The extra seeds promise new growth in forests ravaged by natural disasters such as fire. If people collect the seeds, they are making sure destroyed areas can become forests again. 

Some trees depend on fires for growth. God uses something that seems harmful to a forest for its own good. For example, Jack pines have thick, hard cones covered in dense resin. The resin seals the seeds inside. When fire consumes a cone, intense heat breaks the resin seal. The seeds are let out. Sequoia trees also have this unique fire-caused seed release.

But not all trees are like this. Many trees and seeds are ruined by flames. And a forest will struggle to recover from fire damage if its trees can’t produce seeds. 

For years, people have helped manage forests by collecting, saving, and propagating seeds. In New Mexico, the Santa Clara Pueblo community has gathered seeds from about 2.5 million trees! The group has a seed bank of ponderosa, Douglas fir, spruce, and other pine variations. South Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah have similar seed banks. 

Trees loaded with cones can take a long time to harvest. But that’s OK. Precious seeds are worth the investment.