>Great question! Yes, there is some evidence that forests are recovering more slowly (or not at all) after fire. We see a lot of this research coming out of the western U.S. For example, for my dissertation work, my colleagues and I documented very limited tree regeneration after wildfires in ponderosa pine woodlands in the Colorado Front Range. I’ve also been involved in several larger studies (meta-analyses) that combine data from different areas to show that this problem isn’t isolated and is a major one across many western landscapes. This research has successfully shown that changes in climate are at least partly to blame - hotter, drier conditions after fire can make it much harder for tree seedlings to germinate and survive. Changes in fire severity (also related to climate change) can also create challenges for forest recovery. For example, ponderosa pine only disperses its seeds short distances, so if a large, severe fire kills all the mature pines in an area, recovery can be very slow.