Fir tree roots damaged

My FIL damaged the roots of one of my favorite for trees while clearing brush around it.   I'd like to save it if possible.  What, if anything, can I do?  See attached pictures.

Remember that a tree root mass is roughly equal to the mass above ground, so even though it looks big, it is really a pretty minor wound.  The tree will overcome it and not even be weakened to fall over..

Probably 4-5 roots damaged, probably 1/3 of the way around.  Just got pictures of the worst 2.

Yeah, that's not great, and no doubt you're steaming mad too.

But I'm inclined to agree with Eric. With at least 2/3 of the surface roots intact, the odds are heavily in favour of the tree's survival. You can fill in the holes so feeder roots can grow, but not much else I think.

I can't get tooooo mad.  It wasn't intentional.  Apparently he caught the biggest root at least with the blade on the mini-execavator, and wasn't even all that close to the tree.  Plus, his eyesight is messed up from a bad horse riding accident 10+ years ago.  He was trying his best, and it was just an accident.

Thanks for the encouraging info though on the likely survival of the tree.  I'd really hate to lose that one.  The alders and birches could all go for all I care.  Then I could plant more fir, cedar, fruit trees, nut trees, etc.

My uneducated guess would be that watering the tree for a little while might help it cope with the loss of roots, esp. if it is hot and dry right now where you are...