by Koren Wetmore Tucked in a shed behind the Big Bear Ranger Station, a future forest resides in a refrigerator. Bags and jars of native seeds line its shelves, awaiting processing by restoration biologist Linda Stamer and her crew. It's August, but the seeds think it's December. "We try to mimic nature," Stamer said, explaining that the cold imitates the winter season the seeds experience in the wild prior to germination. "You almost have to be a detective to determine where that seed came from and how it naturally reproduces." A seed digested by an animal before hitting the soil must be soaked in acid then planted in manure, otherwise it won't grow, she said. The seed cache is part of a native plant restoration program started by the U.S. Forest Service in 1993 to address the impacts of a potential 20 million annual visitors on the San Bernardino National Forest... Full text available to editors upon request.