Nutcracker Notes, Issue No
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Issue No. 19: Fall / Winter 2010 WELCOME WPEF CANADA Helen Ridge, Banff National Park. Photo by Cyndi Smith. Limber pine, Oldman River basin, Alberta, see article by Dave Sauchyn. WPEF P.O. Box 17943 Missoula, MT 59808 WPEF Director: Diana F. Tomback University of Colorado Denver Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation Dept. of Integrative Biology, CB 171 P0 Box 173364 Nutcracker Notes, Issue No. 19; Fall/Winter 2010 Denver, CO 80217 [email protected] CONTENTS PAGE Assoc. Director: Cyndi M. Smith Box 200 Director’s Message—Welcome “WPEF Canada” ........................................3 Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta TOK 2M0, Canada 2011 Conference—Save the Date!..............................................................4 [email protected] High Five Symposium—A Recap ................................................................4 Secretary: Helen Y. Smith RMRS Missoula* [email protected] Interview with Helen Smith ..........................................................................6 Treasurer: Ward McCaughey Mail-in Voting—A Success ..........................................................................6 RMRS retired “Members Only” Info—What is it?................................................................7 366 Stagecoach Trail Florence, MT 59833 [email protected] Bristlecone Pine Jigsaw Puzzle ..................................................................7 Membership & Outreach Coordinator: Range-wide Strategy for Restoring Whitebark Pine.....................................7 Bryan L. Donner Flathead National Forest 2010 Restoration Program ..........................................................................8 650 Wolfpack Way Kalispell, MT 59901 [email protected] Climate History from Limber and Whitebark Pines ......................................9 Publications editor: Steve Arno Exploring Whitebark Pine at its Northwest Limit ........................................11 5755 Lupine Lane Imitating Lightning Strikes for Whitebark Pine Restoration ........................12 Florence, MT 59833 sfarno@ msn .com Other Board Members: Carl Fiedler Can Dogs Locate Whitebark Seed Caches?..............................................14 University of Montana Whitebark Pine Regeneration in the Greater Yellowstone .........................14 School of Forestry & Conservation Retired [email protected] Robert F. Keane RMRS Missoula* [email protected] Web Site: www.whitebarkfound.org Katherine C. Kendall U.S. Geological Survey Glacier National Park Web Site Contact Person: Robert Keane (address above) West Glacier, MT 59936 [email protected] Web Site Provider: Chuck Crouter Michael Murray Ministry of Forests & Range Kootenay Lake Forestry Centre 1907 Ridgewood Road Our Mission: The Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation Nelson, BC V1L 6K1 Canada [email protected] (WPEF) is a science-based nonprofit organization dedicated to counteracting the decline of whitebark pine and enhancing Kirk Horn knowledge of its ecosystems. USDA Forest Service, retired West Yellowstone, MT [email protected] Membership Information and an application is found at Ron Mastrogiuseppe <www.whitebarkfound.org> Crater Lake Institute Crater Lake NP., OR 97604 [email protected] *USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Shawn T. McKinney, National Park Service Fire Sciences Lab PO Box 700-W 5775 West US Highway 10 El Portal, CA 95318 Missoula, MT 59808-9361 [email protected] Nutcracker Notes • Spring/Summer 2010____________________________ www.whitebarkfound.org Director’s Message accomplished, and will try to help secure more funding and be actively involved in project implementation. What we need most at this point is involvement, so click on the WPEF website (whitebarkfound.org) to join the foundation and if you want to join our board or have a higher level of involvement, contact Randy Moody ([email protected]). High Five Symposium The ‘High Five Symposium: The Future of High- Diana F. Tomback and Elevation Five-Needle White Pines in Western North WPEF-Canada’s Randy Moody America,” held June 28-30, 2010, on the University of Montana campus, was a major success. The intent of this symposium was to raise awareness and exchange WPEF and WPEF-Canada information about management options for six This is the first issue of Nutcracker Notes to ecologically important high elevation western pines communicate news and information from both WPEF currently under threat. More than 230 people attended and WPEF-Canada. With the signing of a the meeting, which exceeded our expectations. The Memorandum of Understanding on August 27, 2010, program included a keynote presentation from Dr. we have established a collaborative working Robert Mangold, Director of Forest Health Protection, relationship between WPEF and WPEF-Canada for U.S. Forest Service, and seven plenary talks, plus promoting “the conservation of whitebark pine three concurrent sessions of contributed and invited ecosystems across the international border by papers that ran from late morning through early supporting restoration, education, management, and evening over two days. We are grateful to Dr. Mangold research projects…” WPEF remains the umbrella and the plenary speakers for thoughtful overviews organization, handling dues, website, and the which provided important background material for talks publication of Nutcracker Notes, but WPEF-Canada in the concurrent sessions. On the third day, we will have its own Board of Directors (BOD). A traveled to Snowbowl Ski Area near Missoula, for an representative of each BOD will attend one board informative field trip to a whitebark pine restoration meeting of the other organization each year, so that project. some of our efforts are coordinated. We believe that We thank WPEF board member Carl Fiedler for two organizations can work to best advantage within overseeing all aspects of conference and Deb Graham our two countries but also present a united front in of Continuing Education at the University of Montana garnering public support. for serving as our liaison to organize the conference on This is a crucial time to raise trans-boundary campus. Board member Bob Keane assembled the awareness of whitebark pine. Accelerated losses from program, Dan Reinhart for arranged the poster outbreaks of mountain pine beetle, white pine blister session, and Bryan Donner organized the field trip. rust, and successional replacement by shade-tolerant Thanks also go to members of the High Five trees throughout Canada and the western United Symposium Steering Committee, representing U.S. States have led to the assessment of whitebark pine by and Canadian agencies, universities, and NGOs. the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in A number of sponsors helped make the symposium Canada (COSEWIC) as endangered, which may lead possible: Crater Lake Institute and Crater Lake Natural to listing under the Species at Risk Act; and to a year- History Association; the National Park Service, long evaluation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service including the Greater Yellowstone Inventory and for potential listing as an endangered species under Monitoring Network (IMN), Sierra Nevada IMN, Upper the federal Endangered Species act. Columbia Basin IMN; NPS Rocky Mountains WPEF-Canada Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit; Natural The timing of the creation of the WPEF-Canada could Resources Defense Council; Parks Canada; The not be better given the recent “elevation” of whitebark Nature Conservancy; University of Montana College of pine by COSEWIC. Many individuals have expressed Forestry and Conservation; USDA Forest Service some confusion over what the creation of the Canadian Northern Region, and Rocky Mountain Research group means. In a nutshell, memberships and Station. In addition, we are grateful to American communication will continue to be handled through the Forests for bringing attention to the plight of the high WPEF as they have been performing this task for five white pines to their membership and for providing several years. Currently WPEF-Canada serves as a copies of their special report “Whitebark Pine: an recognized voice north of the border. We will apply Ecosystem in Peril” to the High Five Symposium pressure to get conservation and restoration goals attendees. 4 Nutcracker Notes • Spring/Summer 2010 ____________________________www.whitebarkfound.org Petition to List Whitebark Pine as Threatened or vicinity guided and interpreted by local experts. Endangered Please save the date. Planning is underway. In December, 2008, the Natural Resources Defense Information about lodging and further details will Council submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife appear in the next issue of Nutcracker Notes (in May Service to list whitebark pine under the Endangered 2011). Information and a call for papers will also be e- Species Act. The first level of review was a 90-day mailed to WPEF members, and will be posted on our finding, but a back-log of challenging cases delayed the website: www.whitebarkfound.org. For now, questions agency’s response, which was finally published in the can be addressed to Meeting Coordinator Michael July 20, 2010 Federal Register, Vol. 75 (p. 42033- Murray at [email protected]. ■ 42040). The conclusions were as follows: “Based on our review, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing High-Five Symposium – a Recap P. albicaulis may be warranted.” The next step is a 12- Carl Fiedler, Conference Coordinator month