California’s Reforestation Effort Faces Critical Labor Shortage: The Race to Collect Vital Pine Cones
California’s efforts to rebuild its fire-ravaged forests are running into an unexpected obstacle: a severe shortage of skilled tree climbers needed to collect the seeds essential for reforestation. As wildfires become more frequent and intense, and forests succumb to disease and insect infestations, the demand for conifer seeds has surged, but the workforce capable of harvesting them from the treetops remains critically small.
Miles Ryan, a professional tree climber, recently ascended a coast redwood at Mount Madonna County Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains as part of one of Cal Fire’s final cone sampling missions of the season, which typically runs from August to October. His task: to collect pine cones, each roughly the size of a green Castelvetrano olive, holding the future of California’s forests in their delicate scales.
These cones are more vital than ever. Each one contains dozens, even hundreds, of precious seeds needed to replenish the state’s seed banks, grow saplings in nurseries, and ultimately, reforest the millions of acres scorched by wildfires. Even iconic species like coast redwoods and giant sequoias, once considered largely resistant to fire, are now facing unprecedented threats from climate change and the abundance of dead and dying trees that fuel hotter, more destructive blazes.
However, the logistical challenge is immense. Cal Fire estimates it needs to collect 55,978 bushels of pine cones – enough to fill three-quarters of an Olympic-size swimming pool – to reforest 25% of nonfederal land in the event of widespread tree loss. But the number of qualified climbers is shockingly low: just a few dozen professionals statewide, working for only three subcontracted companies utilized by state agencies. At Mount Madonna on September 30, Ryan was the sole contract climber, while Cal Fire trainees cautiously began their own ascents.
“There’s what’s actually growing out there, what’s a collectible crop, and the ability to act on it,” explained a Cal Fire deputy chief of reforestation services. “Even if there were healthy crops in previous years, we might not have had the manpower or the ability to survey, monitor or collect it.”
The process is painstaking. Experts compare cone collection to harvesting garden tomatoes – timing is crucial. Pick too early, and the seeds are underdeveloped; wait too long, and squirrels and insects claim the bounty. Assessing cone maturity requires climbers to scale trees, often 150 feet or more, to collect samples for scientific analysis. Scientists then X-ray the cones to confirm seed health before a second ascent is made for harvesting.
“In most California forests, there are ‘not enough people to see if there’s a viable crop, let alone be able to coordinate the contracting to get people to climb 150 feet up in the tree,’” said Britta Dyer, vice president of the Resilient Forests project at the nonprofit American Forests.
The difficulty is compounded by the unique challenges presented by different tree species. Arborist Colt Langstaff, who works for Sierra Cone, one of the state’s contracted companies, has spent two decades learning “the language of trees,” distinguishing between knobcone pines, lodgepole pines, and Douglas firs. The coast redwood’s cones, in particular, are notoriously difficult to harvest.
“You have to know how to get to the tips of the limbs without destroying the seeds,” Langstaff explained. “The cones are tiny, so they’re just difficult to get off the branch, to get into the bushels.” Furthermore, each redwood cone must have its stem trimmed to prevent the spread of sudden oak death, a widespread pathogen.
The focus of cone collection has historically been on conifer species in California’s interior, which have experienced more intense wildfires. However, even the resilient redwoods of the coast are now vulnerable, particularly after the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires burned over 86,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“What we’re seeing in the Santa Cruz Mountains is those stressors and disturbances stacking on top of one another,” said David Cowman, director of land stewardship at the Sempervirens Fund. “There’s not a huge need for replanting at this point in time, but I think the big fear is that we just don’t know what’s coming in the next 20 to 100 years.”
Langstaff estimates he’s collected nearly a billion conifer seeds over his career and is now passing the trade on to his teenage children. He believes there’s a bright future for skilled tree climbers, noting that “you can go anywhere in the world where there’s trees, and you have the knowledge, a couple of saws, some rope, and a harness, and you can make money.”
However, geographic specificity is key. “We wouldn’t want to take seed from Humboldt County and try to grow it here in Santa Clara County,” explained Topher Byrd, a statewide reforestation coordinator for Cal Fire. “The climate is just too different; the soils are different.”
October’s collection at Mount Madonna yielded a mere 16.5 bushels of redwood cones – a small fraction of the state’s overall need. To address the workforce gap, American Forests has partnered with Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service to offer “cone camps” that train up to 200 people annually, and an apprenticeship program that has placed over 40 individuals in reforestation roles.
But sustained progress will require significant investment. “We’ll be looking for additional funding to keep it going in order to make sure that we didn’t just start a conversation about workforce, but that we can actually sustain it,” Dyer stated.
Perhaps the biggest barrier to entry is a simple one: fear of heights. Even experienced rock climbers find trees challenging due to their swaying motion. But for those who overcome that fear, like Miles Ryan, it’s a uniquely peaceful experience. After completing a climb earlier this year, Ryan, finding his work done, roped himself into a comfortable fork near the treetop, rested his head on a branch, and let the wind gently rock him to sleep. “It’s not a roller coaster,” he said. “It’s so gentle and sweet. There’s so much trust up there at the top when it’s moving.”
