Regrowing Australia's forests may require human intervention

In Australia, wildfires have burned through massive forests of mountain and alpine ash — some of the tallest trees in the world. These trees aren’t naturally equipped to deal with frequent fires and are struggling to grow back on their own. But humans are helping to give them a shot at recovery.With no intervention, these ravaged forests, located primarily in Southeast Australia, would eventually turn into a different type of ecosystem, like savanna or grassland. Owen Bassett, of Forest Solutions, is not ready to let that happen. For years, he has collected seeds from these trees and manually replanted them in an effort to rebuild the forest.Related: Thousands flee fires in Australia, navy helps evacuate the strandedBecause these species are obligate seeders — that is, they can regenerate after fire only from seed and not from their trunks — “if we have enough seed and we have the means to spread that seed where the forest is going to experience population collapse, then we can interve