The whitebark pine tree is a staple of Alpine ecosystems in western North America.These forests cover more than 80 million acres of land in two Canadian provinces and seven U.S. states, including California.Whitebark pine trees provide shelter and food sources for animals. The forest root systems also help to secure snowpack and control the release of spring runoff. “This species really is integral to providing a lot of ecosystem services for humans but really does support a lot of the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in those high elevation systems,” Dr. Elizabeth Pansing with American Forests, a national nonprofit focused on reforesting projects, said.Last year, the whitebark pine was officially added to the endangered species list, increasing efforts to help protect the trees. Pansing says a combination of drought, invasive disease and wildfires have contributed to the trees’ decline. Rising temperatures caused by human carbon emissions are also expected to shrink the range in which these trees are able to grow.To help combat these threats, American Forests is beginning work with the National Park Service in Yosemite National Park to find whitebark pine trees that are resistant to both drought and disease.Similar work has been ongoing in Glacier National Park as well as Yellowstone. Scientists will be looking for areas of forest that have experienced high tree mortality with the assumption that surviving trees may be more resistant to events like drought and an invasive disease called white pine blister rust. Cones from these more robust trees will be collected and analyzed.“We can then do some genetic testing to actually see whether or not those individuals are resistant to drought and resistant to white pine blister rust, and then those seedlings that we grow from the cones of those trees go back out into the landscape, and we plant those as seedlings to help restore the species,” Pansing said.Pansing said that she and her team are optimistic that the trees will bounce back, but they know the process only goes as fast as a tree can grow.“This is a long-term process. Whitebark pine restoration will take a while, but it has been ongoing for many decades now. So we have a good start across its range to build upon,” Pansing said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The whitebark pine tree is a staple of Alpine ecosystems in western North America.
These forests cover more than 80 million acres of land in two Canadian provinces and seven U.S. states, including California.
Whitebark pine trees provide shelter and food sources for animals. The forest root systems also help to secure snowpack and control the release of spring runoff.
“This species really is integral to providing a lot of ecosystem services for humans but really does support a lot of the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in those high elevation systems,” Dr. Elizabeth Pansing with American Forests, a national nonprofit focused on reforesting projects, said.
Last year, the whitebark pine was officially added to the endangered species list, increasing efforts to help protect the trees. Pansing says a combination of drought, invasive disease and wildfires have contributed to the trees’ decline.
Rising temperatures caused by human carbon emissions are also expected to shrink the range in which these trees are able to grow.
To help combat these threats, American Forests is beginning work with the National Park Service in Yosemite National Park to find whitebark pine trees that are resistant to both drought and disease.
Similar work has been ongoing in Glacier National Park as well as Yellowstone.
Scientists will be looking for areas of forest that have experienced high tree mortality with the assumption that surviving trees may be more resistant to events like drought and an invasive disease called white pine blister rust. Cones from these more robust trees will be collected and analyzed.
“We can then do some genetic testing to actually see whether or not those individuals are resistant to drought and resistant to white pine blister rust, and then those seedlings that we grow from the cones of those trees go back out into the landscape, and we plant those as seedlings to help restore the species,” Pansing said.
Pansing said that she and her team are optimistic that the trees will bounce back, but they know the process only goes as fast as a tree can grow.
“This is a long-term process. Whitebark pine restoration will take a while, but it has been ongoing for many decades now. So we have a good start across its range to build upon,” Pansing said.
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https://www.kcra.com/article/yosemite-national-park-whitebark-pine-tree/45432700
