Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners

so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning

English.

On today's program, you will hear stories from John Russell and Jill Robbins.

Later Brian Lynn presents this week's science report.

We close the show with The Lesson of the Day from Jill Robbins and Andrew Smith.

But first, Camille Stephen's Ruman recently sat on the ground and measured small trees to see how much they had grown in seven months.

She found they had grown in seven months. She found they had grown five to ten

centimeters. Her team had planted several different kinds of trees, known as

evergreens, two years ago in an area of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado,

which had burned in a fire in 2020.

Stephen's Ruman and other researchers want to learn the relationship between tree growth and elevation.

Researchers say there are not enough small trees or seeds from living trees to replace burned trees.

Even if they're worth enough, they say the U.S. does not have the workers to plant and care for them.

The Forest Service said the biggest delays they meet while replanting on public land

are preparing environmental and cultural studies and preparing

burned areas so they are safe to plant.

That can take years.

Stephen's Ruman said,

...