The future of high-elevation, five-needle white pines in Western North America: Proceedings of the High Five Symposium

Abstract

High elevation five-needle pines are rapidly declining throughout North America. The six species, whitebark (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.), limber (P. flexilis James), southwestern white (P. strobiformis Engelm.), foxtail (P. balfouriana Grev. & Balf.), Great Basin bristlecone (P. longaeva D.K. Bailey), and Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (P. aristata Engelm.), have limited timber value but are of great ecological and symbolic importance to both the U.S. and Canadian West. A comprehensive International symposium, called the High Five symposium, was held June 28-30, 2010, in Missoula, Montana to: (1) bring together scientists, managers, and concerned citizens to exchange information on the ecology, threats, and management of these pines; (2) learn about the threats and current status of pine populations; (3) describe efforts to mitigate threats through restoration techniques and action plans; and, (4) build a foundation for the synthesis of research efforts and management approaches. These proceedings present reports of some of the presentations given at the conference in the form of abstracts, extended abstracts, papers, and plenary papers in the areas of ecology, disturbance dynamics, genetics, climate change, and restoration techniques.

Titles contained within The future of high-elevation, five-needle white pines in Western North America: Proceedings of the High Five Symposium

• The magnificent high-elevation five-needle white pines: Ecological roles and future outlook
• Synthesis of lower treeline limber pine (Pinus flexilis) woodland knowledge, research needs, and management considerations
• Native ectomycorrhizal fungi of limber and whitebark pine: Necessary for forest sustainability?
• The relationship between whitebark pine health, cone production, and nutcracker occurrence across four National Parks
• Monitoring limber pine health in the Rocky Mountains and North Dakota
• Long-term monitoring of high-elevation white pine communities in Pacific West Region National Parks
• Altered species interactions and implications for natural regeneration in whitebark pine communities
• Determining Clark's nutcracker use of whitebark pine communities in regard to stand health in Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
• Limber pine health in the Canadian Rockies
• Regeneration and survival of whitebark pine after the 1988 Yellowstone fires
• Seed dispersal in limber and southwestern white pine: Comparing core and peripheral populations
• Sugar pine seed harvest by Clark's nutcracker: Annual use of a transient resource in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
• Pre-dispersal seed predator dynamics at the northern limits of limber pine distribution
• Clark's nutcracker demography and habitat use in Bridger-Teton National Forest-preliminary analyses
• Mountain pine beetle in high-elevation five-needle white pine ecosystems
• Health of whitebark pine forests after mountain pine beetle outbreaks
• Protecting whitebark pines through a mountain pine beetle epidemic with verbenone-is it working?
• The use of verbenone to protect whitebark pine from mountain pine beetle
• Conservation genetics of high elevation five-needle white pines
• Molecular genetic variation in whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) in the Inland West
• Genetic variation of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) provenances and families from Oregon and Washington in juvenile height growth and needle color
• A sugar pine consensus map: Comparative mapping between the Pinus subgenus Pinus and the subgenus Strobus
• A population genetic model for high-elevation five-needle pines: Projecting population outcomes in the presence of white pine blister rust
• Ex Situ gene conservation in high elevation white pine species in the United States-a beginning
• Comparison of genetic diversity and population structure of Pacific Coast whitebark pine across multiple markers
• The U.S. Forest Service's renewed focus on gene conservation of five-needle pine species
• Geographic patterns of genetic variation, population structure and adaptive traits in Pinus aristata, Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine
• Disturbance ecology of high-elevation five-needle pine ecosystems in western North America
• Fire and high-elevation, five-needle pine (Pinus aristata & P. flexilis) ecosystems in the southern Rocky Mountains: What do we know?
• Modeling climate changes and wildfire interactions: Effects on whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) and implications for restoration, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
• Fuel and fire behavior in high-elevation five-needle pines affected by mountain pine beetle
• Influence of fire on mycorrhizal colonization of planted and natural whitebark pine seedlings: Ecology and management implications
• Climate change response of great basin bristlecone pine in the Nevada NSF-EPSCoR Project (www.nvclimatechange.org)
• Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) assisted migration trial
• Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) in Cascadia: A climate change prognosis
• Establishment patterns of whitebark pine following fire in the Canadian Rockies
• A natural history of Cronartium ribicola
• Monitoring white pine blister rust infection and mortality in whitebark pine in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem
• Limber pine forests on the leading edge of white pine blister rust distribution in Northern Colorado
• Valuing the forest for the trees: Willingness to pay for white pine blister rust management
• Annual observations of conspicuous canker activity on whitebark pine (2003 to 2007)
• Re-measurement of whitebark pine infection and mortality in the Canadian Rockies
• Can microscale meteorological conditions predict the impact of white pine blister rust in Colorado and Wyoming?
• Histological observations on needle colonization by Cronartium ribicola in susceptible and resistant seedlings of whitebark pine and limber pine
• Past and current investigations of the genetic resistance to cronartium ribicola in high-elevation five-needle pines
• Preliminary overview of the first extensive rust resistance screening tests of Pinus flexilis and Pinus aristata
• Status of white pine blister rust and seed collections in california's high-elevation white pine species
• Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) applications in white pine blister rust resistance screening
• Molecular dissection of white pine genetic resistance to Cronartium ribicola
• Rust resistance in seedling families of Pinus albicaulis and Pinus strobiformis and implications for restoration
• Strategies, tools, and challenges for sustaining and restoring high elevation five-needle white pine forests in western North America
• Investigating the optimality of proactive management of an invasive forest pest
• Exploring whitebark pine resilience in the crown of the continent
• Inoculation and successful colonization of whitebark pine seedlings with native mycorrhizal fungi under greenhouse conditions
• The proactive strategy for sustaining five-needle pine populations: An example of its implementation in the southern Rocky Mountains
• Whitebark and limber pine restoration and monitoring in Glacier National Park
• Restoration of whitebark pine forests in the northern Rocky Mountains, USA
• No free lunch: Observations on seed predation, cone collection, and controlled germination of whitebark pine from the Canadian Rockies
• Highlights of the Forest Health Protection Whitebark Pine Restoration Program
• Whitebark pine direct seeding trials in the Pacific Northwest
• Guidelines for whitebark pine planting prescriptions
• Limber pine seed and seedling planting experiment in Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada
• Restoration planting options for limber pines in the southern Rocky Mountains
• High elevation white pines educational website

Citation

Keane, Robert E.; Tomback, Diana F.; Murray, Michael P.; Smith, Cyndi M., eds. 2011. The future of high-elevation, five-needle white pines in Western North America: Proceedings of the High Five Symposium. 28-30 June 2010; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-63. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 376 p.