Healing the land

A hundred years from now, the forest south of Sundance may look just the way it used to.

The Fish Fire burned through just under 6800 acres back in 2022, leaving blackened scars in its wake.

Left to its own devices, the land would likely take multiples of that timespan to heal those wounds, but the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) was on site last week to offer a helping hand.

Along with a contracted crew of planters, Forest stewards arrived with boxes of foot-high seedlings to take advantage of a two-week window during which conditions are ripe for success. Though the tiny trees were born in Nebras...