AMERICAN FORESTS SPECIAL REPORT

Key to the Species List

1. Whitebark Pine, Pinus albicaulis 18. Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus

2. Common Raven, Corvus spp. 19. Pine Grosbeak, Pinicola enucleator

3. Hairy Woodpecker, Picoides villosus 20. Clark’s Nutcracker, Nucifraga columbiana 4. Red Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra 21. Williamson’s Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus 5. Clark’s Nutcracker, Nucifraga thyroideus columbiana 22. Cassin’s Finch, Carpodacus cassinii 6. Black-backed Woodpecker, Picoides arcticus 23. Paintbrush, Castilleja miniata

7. Smoke from a distant wildfire 24. Chipmunk, Eutamias spp.

8. Whitebark Pine seedlings & saplings: 25. Grizzly Bear, Ursus arctos horribilis the next generation of whitebarks. 26. Beargrass, Xerophyllum tenax 9. Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides 27. Whitebark Pine cones and seeds, 10 Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsoni cus important food sources for all these animals. 11. White-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis 28. Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Balsamorhiza sagittata 12. Mountain Chickadee, Parus gambeli 29. Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta 13. Fire scar on trunk of a whitebark Canadensis pine; an indication of past fires these trees have survived. 30. Clark’s Nutcracker, Nucifraga columbiana, tearing cones apart 14. Whitebark Pine seedlings - the next for seeds. generation of whitebarks. 31. Black Bear, Ursus americanus 15. Spreading Phlox, Phlox diffusa 32. Mature and healthy whitebark pine 16. Currant Ribes spp ., host species for blister rust pathogen Cronartium 33. Dead whitebark pine, providing ribicola that is currently killing many homes for animals. of these ancient whitebark pines 34. Brown whitebark pine treetop 17. White-headed Woodpeckers, Picoides needles showing effects of blister albolarvatus rust pathogen Cronartium ribicola .

Illustration courtesy of Larry Eifert, 2007 © Estuary Press. For more information go to www.larryeifert.com.

The original Mural was commissioned by The Crater Lake Institute, at www.craterlakeinstitute.org. Cooperation &

assistance for the mural was provided by The Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation, www.whitebarkfound.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to sustaining whitebark pine ecosystems. WWhhiitteebbaarrkk PPiinnee AN ECOSYSTEM IN PERIL WHITEBARK PINE: Special Report Imperile d in High Places

A tree that in many ways defines life atop the Mature whitebark pines do much to orchestrate windswept crown of western North America’s high the way life revolves near mountain summits. To country is in trouble. Whitebark pine, which has begin with, the tree’s seeds are crucial to much high- evolved to both live and foster other life forms in a elevation ecological interaction. They’re large, landscape where existence is a struggle, faces deci - extremely nutritious, and capable of boosting a mation from blister rust, an outbreak of mountain whitebark seedling’s chances in a habitat where the pine beetles, fire suppression, and increasingly elements seem to conspire against survival. Despite warm weather. If something can’t be done to help all the inclemency they’re up against, whitebarks are “When we these trees, whitebarks could disappear from the successful reseeders. However, due to an evolution - If efforts to Sierra, Cascade, and northern Rocky Mountain sum - ary twist of fate, they can’t manage this crucial act of Amits. And along with the trees, we could lose a com - species self-preservation on their own. protect the plex web of plant and animal life, all with the poten - Unlike other pines, whitebark seeds neither drop try to pick out tial to become ecologically unraveled if efforts to pro - from the cones, nor wait for the wind to provide dis - whitebark tect this symbol of subalpine tenacity should fail. persal. Instead, these pines have evolved a mutualis - Whitebark pine ( Pinus albicaulis ) is a five-needled tic partnership with a bird at home in subalpine pine fail, species most often found near the timberline. forests, the Clark’s nutcracker. anything by itself, Younger trees are known for their whitish bark, thus These handsome, gray, white, and black members we could lose the name. The trees often grow in clusters, the of the Corvid family (crows, jays, ravens, and mag - crowns can be bushy, and the trees themselves some - pies), are vital to manipulating a specialized environ - a complex web times display the gnarled effects of harsh, high-alti - mental niche, and in doing so, are fostering the suc - we find it hitched tude living. cess of their own species by simply planting a seed. of plant and

animal life.

to everything else -by-

Gary Lantz

in the universe.” Whitebark pines (left) are essential to life in subalpine ecosystems.

—John Muir T R E F I E Y R R A L O K Z E I N S D E A H C I R , E C I V R E S T S E R O F S U

WHITEBARK PINE IMPERILED 1 WHITEBARK PINE: Special Report

WHITEBARK PINE RANGE

Some altitudes sometimes nine months of the year.” John Muir, naturalist, father of the Sierra Club, biologists and poet laureate of the western North America high country, loved these trees that grew at the top estimate that of the world. “During stormy nights,” he said, “I have often camped snugly beneath the interlacing a single Clark’s arches of this little pine. The needles, which have accumulated for centuries, make fine beds; a fact nutcracker well known to other mountaineers such as deer and wild sheep, who paw out oval hollows and lie may store beneath the larger trees in safe and comfortable concealment.” K

as many C Muir reported that he once counted 255 annual O T S I / I

R rings in a whitebark pine tree that stood a scant E R A

as 35,000 G three feet tall. Another three-footer, he said, con - H P E S

O tained 426 annual rings. Muir added that although J the trees were of great antiquity, the branches remained so supple he could tie them into knots. Autumn arrives early in whitebark pine country. While Clark’s nutcrackers prepare for the winter by

R planting whitebark seeds, red squirrels are busy

E

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N E gleaning cones and gathering them into large caches

C

E

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R

U called middens. Certainly the squirrels go about this

O

S

E R end-of-season task with no intention of sharing. But

C

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N Clark’s nutcrackers are transformed into a dense forest with a complex veg - black and grizzly bears could care less. Whitebark

E

G

A

N adept at prying seeds from the etative understory, attractive to elk, bear, moose, red seeds are a prime source of nutrition prior to hiber -

E

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O D whitebark cones and carrying squirrels, and a variety of songbirds. nation. Grizzlies are experts at locating squirrel stash - them in a throat pouch with As the high-altitude canopy spreads and matures, es, even in the snow. And when sow grizzlies emerge whitebark the capacity to hold 80 to 100 of the nutritious nuts. it creates a microclimate supporting an increasing from the winter den with cubs in tow, the famished Then the birds spread out to do their gardening. A complexity of plants and animals. Whitebark pine bears seek out pine seeds as an emergency ration. seeds in as nutcracker may fly several miles before caching groves block wind and prevent rapid snowmelt. This The big bears carefully pick each seed from the seeds an inch or so deep in the soil. The birds often in turn prevents erosion and ensures a constant cone, much like a kid from the South shells peanuts many as 9,500 seek open, sunlit meadows like recently burned source of cold water to feed mountain streams or sunflower seeds. Whitebark seeds are the gift of areas or places where strong winter winds will throughout the summer. Trout fishermen are among life for this rare and charismatic predator, just as sites during sweep away the snow. Then, somehow, the nut - those who benefit from the role these high-altitude they are for red squirrels, nutcrackers, and others T

crackers manage to remember the location of the pines play in preserving the quality midsummer creatures that benefit from the nuts’ rich suste - R E F I one fall E caches as summer turns to autumn, and the cold flows that trout require. The loss of good trout habi - nance. Were it not for the whitebark pine, grizzlies Y R R A and unrelenting winter winds begin to blow. tat can, in turn, affect mountain life ranging from the would be forced to seek food at lower elevations, and L cone crop. Some biologists estimate that a single Clark’s nut - well-being of grizzly bears to the regional economy. thus suffer even more frequent contact with man. cracker may deposit as many as 35,000 whitebark Donald Peattie, in his classic book A Natural As history has shown, the grizzly is better off as The Clark’s nutcracker, seeds in as many as 9,500 sites during one fall cone History Of Western Trees , noted, “Of all the trees in a bear of the wilderness, beyond man’s daily haunts, From the Canadian Rockies and North seen above right, crop. About half the seeds are then recovered as its range, [the whitebark pine] is the most complete - and few trees better symbolize America’s remaining separates the seeds either food for the adult birds or essential nutrients ly alpine. And at last it stands, or rather creeps and wild places than the whitebark pine. What would Cascades, to Yellowstone and the high from the whitebark for their young. struggles, alone, rooted in desolate mountain rock, happen to the endangered bears of the Greater pine’s cones (above) The rest have the opportunity to sprout as tough its limbs on the windward side dismantled, its stem Yellowstone region if whitebark pines were to disap - Sierra, some 98 percent of the tree’s range is and buries them to seedlings with a rapidly stabilizing taproot and the foreshortened to a height of three or four feet, its pear remains a matter of speculation. However, biol - retrieve during the ability to survive some of the most frigid tempera - limber branches so intertwined you can walk on ogists know that the seeds remain a critical food national forestland, national parks, winter and spring. tures, debilitating gales, and intense solar radiation them. There is little white bark to be seen on such a source. Grizzlies need the pine nuts both for their on the continent. In time, these whitebark seedlings timberline specimen, and, as John Muir said, the food value and for their ability to influence distribu - state lands, Indian reservations, and grow to provide the nursery shade needed for tree seems to have been stopped in its growth by a tion. Whitebark seeds keep bears high in the moun - seedlings like Engelmann spruce. Then, as the low ceiling.” tains and away from temptation, thus avoiding con - national wilderness. Engelmann spruce mature, other high-altitude Peattie added, “That ceiling is real, if invisible. It flicts that tend to result in more dead bears. species become established. Over the years, sunny, is determined by the shrieking gales—winds of the Getting a toehold in a rugged timberline environ - open country near the timberline that was once thin - very planet’s turning—and by the storms of sand; by ment takes enormous resources. However, when a ly dotted with islands of pioneer whitebark pine is the crushing load of ice and snow that last at high whitebark pine manages to take root and grow, the

2 AMERICAN FORESTS SPECIAL REPORT 2010 WHITEBARK PINE IMPERILED 3 WHITEBARK PINE: Special Report

HIGH & WILD: WHITEBARK PINES SYMBOLIZE AMERICA’S WILDERNESS SANCTUARIES

As many as trees make the best of it. Many trees live to be 500 n many ways, whitebark pine is the Today grizzlies are found in some two everywhere, and may fly several miles to Seeds are generally buried on steep, years old or more, with some individuals tipping the perfect symbol for America’s remain - percent of their original range south of do so. Unlike wind-assisted pine seeds, south-facing slopes that accumulate mini - 80 percent of scales of time at over 1,200 years, and still going. ing wild places. Some 98 percent of Canada and Alaska. Biologists believe that Nutcrackers are as apt to distribute mal snowpack. Tomback says nutcrack - Whitebarks reach sexual maturity at 20 to 30 years, the tree’s range is national forest - between 1800 and 1975, grizzly popula - upwind as down. Their main concern is ers usually store around three to five the whitebark I but bountiful seed crops aren’t to be expected for land, national parks, state lands, Indian tions declined from an estimated 50,000 finding a good stash site, which often seeds per cache. Seeds are planted another three or four decades. Nothing happens reservations and national wilderness. of these big bears to less than 1,000. proves to be a good seedbed. approximately two centimeters deep, per - trees in overnight up where whitebark pines prefer to grow, Whitebark pines spread south from the Grizzlies require a huge home range They relocate seeds by memory, fect for germination requirements. and patience provides its own ample reward for this Canadian Rockies to the Sierra Nevada in to provide for their voracious caloric relying on landmarks even when snows One bird may store as many as 35,000 areas of the symbol of subalpine tenacity. California. A preference for subalpine needs—50 to 300 square miles for blanket the ground, and retrieve them to seeds per year, three to five times the Patience is certainly a virtue in a tree that colo - habitat restricts the tree to mountain females, 200 to 500 square miles for feed adults and young. Overlooked seeds number needed to meet bird and brood’s Northern nizes the roof of a continent. However, patience ranges in Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, males. Therefore it’s important to protect then have a chance of becoming white - annual energy requirements. Survival tends to be difficult among those working to main - Montana and Wyoming, and to the Sierra prime subalpine food sources. Whitebark bark seedlings. rates for seedlings can be 56 percent the Rockies have tain whitebark pines as an integral part of our high- and the Cascades. seeds are both high in nutrition and No one knows the Clark’s nutcracker first year, and still around 25 percent by In a report compiled for the U.S. available at critical times of the year. better than researcher Diana Tomback, as late as the fourth year, Tomback said. Forest Service, forest pathologist John W. Red squirrels also love whitebark professor at the University of Colorado in She added that other seed distribution Schwandt noted that whitebark pine seeds, and stay busy each autumn gath - Denver. Her studies indicate that the methods, including rodents and seeds left occurs as both a climax species at tree ering cones to store. Squirrel activity isn’t future of whitebark pine and Clark’s nut - from disintegrating cones, provide far line, and as an early successional species, lost on both black and grizzly bears, who cracker remains tightly interwoven. less reproductive potential. contributing far more to high elevation use their highly developed olfactory According to Tomback, Clark’s nut - Nutcrackers also deposit seeds more ecosystems than might be concluded capacity to locate the cached cones and crackers begin gathering seeds in late evenly throughout available habitat, in based on biomass and abundance alone. help themselves. summer. These are stored in the sublin - some cases covering several miles or In its ability to colonize and persevere Research in Yellowstone National Park gual pouch, a sac-like extension of the more. Such mobility, Tomback said, is at high altitudes, the tree is a pillar of confirms that grizzlies feed almost exclu - floor of the mouth, unique to the genus why Clark’s nutcrackers are responsible alpine ecosystems, Schwandt points out. sively on whitebark pine seeds in abun - Nucifraga. Nutcrackers have also evolved for the whitebark pine’s pioneering Subalpine communities depend upon dant years. Such feasting pushes repro - a long, sturdy, and slightly decurved bill capacity. Bird and tree, she added, are whitebark pine for stability, diversity and ductive rates higher, and allows the bears perfect for tearing into whitebark pine coevolved and mutualistic: simply made in many cases, even existence itself. to generally stay in the high country, cones and prying out the seeds. for each other. Whitebark groves allow inhospitable away from human/bear conflicts. areas to moderate and become, over Bears have a bird to thank for all this These trees are critical to the overall health time, thriving communities containing subalpine bounty: Clark’s nutcracker, the diverse populations of plants and wildlife. Johnny Appleseed of high elevation of the lower 48’s grizzly bear population, a federally Whitebark pines are so proficient at ecosystems, is a jay-sized corvid that’s this that they impact life forms ranging talkative, loud, and hard to overlook in protected threatened species. H T I M

S from soil microorganisms to bears. The its home territory. N A

D trees also stabilize erosion prone slopes and capture snow, slowing spring runoff, Co-Evolved Species succumbed to mountain wilderness, for the trees are being buffet - reducing flooding, and improving water Whitebark pine’s symbiotic relationship ed by disturbances both natural and introduced. quality in the valleys below. with Clark’s nutcrackers indicates how white pine The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Schwandt says that if conditions are tightly intertwined the evolution of these concludes that regions of the Northern Rockies have favorable, whitebark pines can grow to two species has become over thousands blister rust or seen an 80 percent die-off of whitebark pine trees, 100 feet in height, reach several feet in of years. The whitebark seed is too heavy and that 80-100 percent of remaining trees in some diameter, and persist for a thousand years. for typical pine seed dispersal, but is pine beetles. areas will succumb to white pine blister rust, moun - However, whitebarks growing at timber - uniquely adapted for dispersal by tain pine beetle infestation, or a combination of the line may also display the weathered, stunt - caching. The skeleton of this two. The threat is so pervasive that NRDC has peti - ed “krumholtz” look of trees battered by Over time, the birds have become whitebark pine in the tioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the harsh winds, low temperatures and abun - such competent distributors of whitebark Targhee National tree as an endangered species – the first tree with dant winter precipitation. seeds that the tree’s cone scales don’t Forest is the first of such widespread distribution to be nominated for even bother to open wide enough for the many; the entire the list. A Super-Food seed to fall on its own. Instead, this hillside is dying. Scientists working to save the species agree that The whitebark pine’s ability to jaunty, intelligent jay cousin is perfectly K

a recovery effort needs to be both immediate and nurture other species is well known to equipped not only to pry open the cones, C O T S I /

far-reaching. The blister rust is an introduced wildlife biologists. These trees are critical but also carry up to 100 seeds in a R E I S S E

assailant from Europe—the trees haven’t had time to the overall health of the lower 48’s special throat pouch perfect for cross T L U A to evolve natural defenses. The pine beetles are grizzly bear population, a federally pro - country distribution. P native, and outbreaks have been common through - tected threatened species. Nutcrackers tend to cache seeds Yellowstone grizzlies rely heavily on whitebark seeds for energy and reproductive health.

4 AMERICAN FORESTS SPECIAL REPORT 2010 WHITEBARK PINE IMPERILED 5 WHITEBARK PINE: Special Report

TO LIST, OR NOT TO LIST

Whitebark out the history of our North American forests. Time To Rally: Research & recent gathering of concerned scientists, whitebark n December of 2008, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Unfortunately, climate-induced high-altitude Restoration Are Key pine restoration techniques are available, but a 1.3-million-member environmental organization, petitioned the pine warming has allowed the beetles to damage trees The future of the whitebark pine may be in jeopardy, restoration requires a high level of commitment over that may have been protected in the past by longer, but the tree’s champions are a diverse, committed, time, along with dependable funding. Without that IU.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to place whitebark pine trees restoration colder winters. and maybe most importantly, a passionate group. commitment, she said, we risk the loss of whitebark on the federal endangered species list. In its petition, NRDC pointed out At the same time, centuries-old timber manage - Scientists from throughout the region have made pine and greatly diminished western forest diversity. that whitebark forests are being decimated throughout their range by an techniques are ment practices have curtailed the fires that once whitebark conservation the focus of ongoing research Robert Keane, research ecologist at the Rocky created open space for new whitebark pine regen - efforts, working, as Aldo Leopold once advocated, to Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Montana, invasive disease, as well as insect infestations made more severe by cli - available, eration. Whitebarks require a regimen of natural preserve the ecological integrity of subalpine commu - seconds Tomback’s assertion. He works in the mate change. The organization added that the tree could be driven to disturbance so that seedlings can grow to sunlight nities by saving all the parts. but these and survive. In time, the forest will close back in, Whitebark benefactors include university research extinction, leaving vast ecological gaps in high mountain starting once more under the shade of whitebark scientists, teachers, U.S. Forest Service professionals, landscapes, and eliminating a critical food source for require a high boughs. But without a natural regimen of periodic U.S. Fish & and Wildlife Service and National Park wildlife, especially grizzly bears. fire, whitebark pines can’t colonize. Service personnel, communicators, photographers, level of And, as goes the whitebark pine, so go the birds conservation organizations like NRDC and AMERICAN With no response from the USFWS to the petition near - and squirrels, the elk and the bears, and all the FORESTS , school groups, and everyday citizens who do ly a year after a response is required by law, in February commitmen t, growing things that have evolved as part of this what they can, from writing letters to offering contri - tightly knit tapestry of life at the top of the continent. butions. Most agree it will take a concentrated, pro - the NRDC asked a federal court to intervene. along with The next few years will show us just how much the longed effort to ensure a future for this tree, plus the “The whitebark pine is central to many of North whitebark pine can endure. We’ll discover whether variety of plant and animal life it fosters by providing America’s mountain ecosystems, and its loss would be funding. we are willing to allow this keystone species to dis - an important food source for as many as 110 animal appear from the planet, or if we and bird species. devastating to some of our most majestic landscapes,” will accept the challenge of sav - To save a species—whether it’s whitebark pine, pointed out Dr. Sylvia Fallon, the petition’s author. “With ing a tree that clings to life in a some charismatic megafauna, or a single small but - N

E help, the tree can be saved. Listing would result in a S

high, hard country — and in terfly—first you have to understand both what it is R E T E P

doing so, opens so many critical and what it represents in the overall scheme of things. S recovery plan and resources to advance solutions already I R R H E C T ecological doors. As researcher Diana Tomback pointed out during a N E out there, but still in need of support.” C E C R U

O If listed, whitebark pine would become the first broadly dispersed S Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, and his white - E R C I T E bark pine restoration research includes evaluating tree protected by the Endangered Species Act. Fallon said scientists N E G the effects of prescribed burning, thinning, selective A N

E regard whitebark pine as a “foundation species” due to its role as a pio - R

O cutting, and fuel-enhancement cutting. D Keane and coworkers studied fuel consumption, neer, creating the conditions necessary for other species to become tree mortality, and undergrowth response to various established in harsh alpine habitat. Above, whitebark treatments at one, five, and 10-year intervals. They seedlings of two found that all of those factors provided desirable According to the NRDC petition, whitebark pine’s natural regenera - families show different seed-caching habitat for Clark’s nutcrackers, the tion has been severely reduced by white pine blister rust, an invasive levels of resistance to trees’ natural dispersal agent. fungus introduced from Europe that has killed more than 50 percent of blister rust, while the On the other hand, Keane and his team discov - image at right shows ered that regeneration rates were low due to nut - whitebark trees in the Northern Rockies in the past four decades. At the the disease attacking a crackers caching fewer seeds: a result of declining same time, warmer temperatures have allowed mountain pine beetles mature tree. production in adjacent stands with high blister-rust to increase in numbers and invade at higher altitudes, where they are Opposite, Rebecca mortality. Other factors included environmental ele - Lawrence collects ments (cold, snow, and high erosion rates), lack of rapidly killing off mature trees. As a result of this “double whammy,” whitebark cones from plant cover, and a relatively short passage of time 80-100 percent of the whitebark pine in many areas will die sooner or a possibly since site manipulation. disease-resistant tree Keane says whitebark pine communities with a later from a combination of these two agents. in Glacier mortality rate of at least 20 percent and blister-rust The U.S. Forest Service has recently published restoration strategies National Park. infection rates above 50 percent should be treated for areas in the Northwest that could be used as “recovery plans” if the by planting rust-resistant seedlings. This is the best way to shorten the gap between disturbance and species is listed as a threatened or endangered. In recent years, the

E regeneration. Long-term restoration of this complex C I agency has increased spending to close to $1million per year, including V R E

S ecosystem will depend on cost-effective, coordinated T S

E matching funds, but according to some experts, the real need is several R efforts, including ecological research, seed harvest O F S U from rust-resistant trees, prioritization of restora - million dollars per year.

6 AMERICAN FORESTS SPECIAL REPORT 2010 WHITEBARK PINE IMPERILED 7 WHITEBARK PINE: Special Report

AN URGENT NEED TO PLANT WHITEBARK PINE

If seed crops he pace at which whitebark pine trees are dying in our Western moun - WHAT IS AMERICAN FORESTS? fail, the birds tains is extremely alarming. In the Greater Yellowstone Area, 700,000 AMERICAN FORESTS is the nation’s oldest nonprofit conser - vation organization, and a world leader in planting trees whitebark pines were killed by mountain pine beetles in 2004 alone. T to heal the earth. Since our first Global ReLeaf project in can turn to With Yellowstone grizzly bears obtaining as much as two-thirds of their energy 1990, we have planted over 33 million trees in 629 proj - ects across the globe. Our goal is to plant 100 million other sources from pine nuts, how will the grizzlies survive? Throughout the range of this vitally trees by 2020, including hundreds of thousands of important tree, from the Cascades and Sierra to Glacier National Park and the whitebark pine. With your help, we can make it happen. of pine nuts. T

H Canadian Rockies, conditions are severe. Survival of this magnificent mountain G I L F O C

E tree will require a redoubling of current efforts. You can help by letting your elect -

However, / 7 0 0 2

R ed officials and natural resource agencies know that this is important for the envi - E T I G

whitebark R A P ronment, for our natural heritage, and to you. E N A J There is no simple restoration strategy for whitebark pine. Improving condi - www.americanforests.org tions for natural regeneration using prescribed fire and other means continues to WHITEBARK PINE NETWORKS, be a priority. But with the loss of trees far outpacing natural regeneration, actively ORGANIZATIONS & RESOURCES planting whitebark pine is increasingly important, especially with blister rust- The Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation is a non- resistant seedlings. profit organization dedicated to counteracting the decline of whitebark pine and extending the ecological Since 1999, AMERICAN FORESTS has raised funds to plant whitebark pine trees knowledge of this and other five-needle pine ecosystems. through its Global ReLeaf program. The largest of these projects - 34,000 rust-tol - www.whitebarkfound.org erant seedlings developed by the Regional Tree Improvement Program - will be tion and prescribed burning, and silvi - Trees chosen as seed donors require both legwork The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national 9

0 planted this summer across 150 acres in the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho.

0 nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and 2 cultural treatments. and tree-climbing skills in order to ensure that sam - H T I environmental specialists that has petitioned the U.S. M

S “We realize it will be impossible to ples aren’t harvested by nutcrackers before the

N AMERICAN FORESTS Whitebark Pine Projects Fish & Wildlife Service to list whitebark pine as an A D implement treatment on all whitebark researchers can complete their harvest. Cones on 1999 — Island Park Caldera - Targhee National Forest endangered tree. www.nrdc.org pine lands,” Keane said. “But there will pines that show signs of resistance are covered with 5,000 whitebark pines pines have no be critical forests requiring immediate and extensive special cages—it’s the only way to keep nutcrackers The Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee proactive restoration.” He added that many whitebark at bay until field workers can add to their collections. 200 1— Henry's Fork - Caribou-Targhee National Forest (GYCC), Whitebark Pine Working Group is an inter- other means forests are in areas like national parks and wilderness As seed production diminishes, there may not be 5,000 whitebark pines agency organization that oversees monitoring activities areas where treatment is prohibited, so wildfire must seeds to cache because of squirrel and nutcracker for resource management in the Greater Yellowstone of dispersal, be allowed to play a role. predation. In such years, whitebark pines have no 200 2— Caribou-Targhee National Forest Area. http://fedgycc.org/WhitebarkPineOverview.htm “Though the outlook may seem bleak, exciting means of dispersal except man. 12,200 whitebark pines except for advances in research and many recent management Fortunately, agencies and nonprofit groups like The Central Rocky Mountain White Pine Health 200 5— Blacklead Whitebark Pine Restoration - Clearwater National Forest Working Group has an annual meeting featuring status successes exist,” says Keane. “Hopefully these will AMERICAN FORESTS and the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem reports on the health of five-needled white pines in the man himself. help secure this keystone species’ conservation.” Foundation are advocating and supporting more 11,615 whitebark and lodgepole pines central and southern Rocky Mountains, and strategy Richard Sniezko, U.S. Forest Service scientist at planting. AMERICAN FORESTS is partnering with state 200 6— Beaver Ridge Reforestation - Clearwater National Forest sessions for dealing with white pine blister rust and Whitebark pine the Dorena Genetic Resource Center in Cottage and federal agencies to plant seedlings in an ongoing 8,300 whitebark and lodgepole pines forest health issues. die-off in the Teton Grove, Oregon, has devoted years to developing rust- effort to restore whitebark pine communities. The Wilderness, Greater resistant seedlings for genetic restoration. Sniezko Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation, under the 201 0— Willow Burned Area - Caribou-Targhee National Forest “High Five: The Future of High Elevation Five Needle Yellowstone Ecosystem and colleagues collect whitebark pine seeds from direction of Dr. Diana Tomback, is committed to con - 15,000 whitebark pines Pines in North America” is the subject of a 3-day sym - (top), and a whitebark forests in Oregon, Washington, and the Warm Springs servation education as well as providing financial posium June 28-30 for researchers, land managers and seedling from Indian Reservation. Seedlings grown from these var - support for whitebark pine projects. The group hopes 2010— Powell Project - Clearwater National Forest students. The U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife American Forests’ ious “families” are tested by inoculating each with to promote new strategies for restoration, and build 34,000 whitebark pines Service, National Park Service and many state agencies 2002 Caribou-Targhee blister rust. After five years, each parent is rated for coalitions dedicated to whitebark pine preservation. will be represented at the gathering at the University of Montana in Missoula. www.umt.edu/ce/cps/highfive National Forest project. resistance based upon its seedlings’ performances. Timing and funding are critical, supporters say. “Many trees are highly susceptible, in that 90 per - But most believe that, with patience, substantial CONTRIBUTE TO THE RESTORATION Copies of this special report are available for distribution at nature centers, visitor centers, and schools. Email [email protected]. cent of their progeny become infected and die,” effort, and a little good luck, whitebark pines can Help AMERICAN FORESTS help our federal and state forest scientists and land Sniezko said. “Some families show infection rates of survive to remain a symbol of a landscape wrapped managers to greatly increase the number of whitebark pine seedlings around 50 percent. The good news,” Sniezko said, “is in clouds, caped in snow, and home to a tough little they can plant each year. Your tax deductible contributions can be made that some are showing surprising resistance to white tree . . . and a bird that lives to garden. online at www.americanforests.org or by phone at 202/737-1944 pine blister rust.” The staff is testing more than 350 or 800-545-TREE. Every dollar plants a tree. selections from sites in Oregon and Washington. Gary Lantz writes from Norman, Oklahoma

8 AMERICAN FORESTS SPECIAL REPORT 2010