How do I cope with grief over forests destroyed by fire and policy?

You have spent a career tending forests meant to outlive you, planting and protecting things you knew you would never see full-grown. And now you watch fire and policy undo years of that patient work. The grief is real, and it is the particular grief of someone who loved something long-term in a world that keeps acting short-term. But do not let the losses erase the truth of what you did. A forest you tended for decades sheltered animals, held soil, cleaned air, and gave shade to people who never knew your name. That happened. Fire and bad policy can take the standing trees. They cannot take the good those years already did, or the knowledge and care you poured in. What you carry, how these forests live and heal, is worth handing to someone younger who will keep tending after you. Find one person to teach, and give them what took you a lifetime to learn. The forests may not outlive every fire. But the care you give another steward can outlive you, and through them, keep growing what you started.