Crown of the Continent Ecosystem Whitebark Pine Restoration Strategy: 2019 Pilot - Project Summary

Melissa Jenkins; Tony Incashola; Dawn LaFleur; Linh Hoang; Katie Renwick; Anna W. Schoettle; Sabine Mellman-Brown; James Lozeau; Kelly Rose O’Bennick; Elliott Meyer; Karl Anderson; Rob Sissons; Robert E. Keane; Brad Jones

Treesearch

Crown of the Continent Ecosystem Whitebark Pine Restoration Strategy: 2019 Pilot - Project Summary

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Melissa Jenkins, Tony Incashola, Dawn LaFleur, Linh Hoang, Katie Renwick, Anna W. Schoettle, Sabine Mellman-Brown, James Lozeau, Kelly Rose O’Bennick, Elliott Meyer, Karl Anderson, Rob Sissons, Robert E. Keane, Brad Jones

Year:

2020

Type:

Miscellaneous

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Source:

Crown Managers Partnership (CMP), High Five Working Group (Hi5WG). 8 p.

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Download (PDF 1.24 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/62150.pdf

Abstract

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis; WBP) is dramatically declining in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (CCE) due to a combination of mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae), effects of fire suppression, and the nonnative pathogen Cronartium ribicola, which causes white pine blister rust (WPBR), all of which have the potential to be exacerbated by climate change. Whitebark pine losses within the CCE are the greatest of anywhere in the species’ range with >90% mortality in some locations1. The same stressors that challenge WBP are also impacting limber pine (P. flexilis) within the CCE. In Waterton Lakes National Park (Alberta) WPBR infection levels within limber pine stands range from 76 to 100% with the disease continuing to intensify through the province2. The large, high intensity Kenow wildfire (2017) burned approximately 47% and 70% of whitebark and limber pine habitat, respectively, within Waterton Lakes National Park and an unknown amount of WBP habitat in Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park of southeast British Columbia. Within Waterton Lakes National Park, this wildfire resulted in the loss of 80% of limber and whitebark seedlings planted for restoration over the past 10 years and 58% of identified plus trees for both species including three limber pine with high levels of tested resistance. With this extent and intensity of burn, it is uncertain if the surviving limber and whitebark seed sources are sufficient to support natural reestablishment. Numerous wildfires in Glacier National Park in recent years and 2018 wildfires that spanned the boundary between Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks, highlights the likelihood of future large scale, high intensity wildfires occurring within the Crown.

Keywords

whitebark pine (WBP), Pinus albicaulis, Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (CCE), limber pine, Pinus flexilis, mortality

Citation

Jenkins, Melissa; Incashola, Tony, Jr.; LaFleur, Dawn; Hoang, Linh; Renwick, Katie; Schoettle, Anna; Mellman-Brown, Sabine; Lozeau, James; O’Bennick, Kelly Rose; Meyer, Elliott; Anderson, Karl; Sissons, Rob; Keane, Bob; Jones, Brad. 2020. Crown of the Continent Ecosystem Whitebark Pine Restoration Strategy: 2019 Pilot - Project Summary. Crown Managers Partnership (CMP), High Five Working Group (Hi5WG). 8 p.