WHITEBARK PINE | Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee

Whitebark Pine Subcommittee

The GYCC Whitebark Pine Subcommittee was established in 2000.

Subcommittee Mission: Our mission is to sustain a collaboration of land managers, scientists, and other whitebark pine experts that leads to the long-term viability and function of whitebark pine ecosystems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE).

Subcommittee Leadership:

Chair: Laura Jones, Branch Chief, Vegetation Ecology and Management, Grand Teton National Park, laura_jones@nps.gov

Vice-Chair: Erin Hooten, Forest Silviculturist, Bridger-Teton National Forest, erin.hooten@usda.gov

MOST RECENT MEETING (virtual): 11/19/24, 1:30-4:00

Importance to the Ecosystem:

The five-needle pines in the GYE, whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis), are important components of forested ecosystems, providing a wide range of ecosystem services. Whitebark pine is an iconic keystone species of high elevation ecosystems. It defines ecosystem structure, function, and process by providing soil stabalizition and carbon storage, increasing biodiversity, and serving as a food source for wildlife. The tree’s calorie-rich whitebark pine nuts provide an important food source for many bird and small mammal species. The cones, harvested and stored by red squirrels, are raided by grizzly bears, and they are a key food source for grizzlies during the autumn months as the bears prepare for hibernation. The Clark’s nutcracker is important for caching whitebark pine seeds across the landscape. Seeds that are forgotten may germinate into future whitebark pines.

Status and Trends in Greater Yellowstone:

Throughout its range, whitebark pine is currently at significant risk from the combined effects of mountain pine beetles, the introduced disease white pine blister rust, climate change, altered fire regimes, and successional replacement. The US Fish and Wildlife Service listed whitebark pine as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in January 2023. In order to protect healthy whitebark pine and restore them in areas with extensive overstory mortality, appropriate management actions must be coordinated, consistent, efficient, and science based. Using data collected by the interagency long-term monitoring program, the proportion of whitebark pine trees infected with white pine blister rust infection was around 34% at the end of a full 4-year panel rotation in 2019. During the recent mountain pine beetle outbreak (2007–2013), it was estimated that 26% of GYE WBP trees >1.4 meters tall died with more than 70% of the largest cone producing trees killed. While most died with evidence of mountain pine beetle, other agents of mortality included white pine blister rust and wildland fire. A study using GYE monitoring data described a relationship between climate and the recent beetle epidemic as well as probability of mortality associated with water stress.

Background:

In the face of an acute threat to a critical long-lived species, the GYCC Whitebark Pine Subcommitee is actively implementing the Whitebark Pine Strategy for the Greater Yellowstone Area (2011) with its associated Adaptive Action Plan – Whitebark Pine in the Greater Yellowstone Area (2015). Ongoing actions include extensive protection and restoration efforts, such as cone collection and planting across the GYA, and the management of a GYGT seed orchard and clone bank on the Custer Gallatin National Forest.
The GYCC Whitebark Pine Subcommittee includes a minimum of one representative from each GYCC agency and collaborates extensively with the research community and partners such as the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation and other non-government/non-profit organizations. The Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and US Fish and Wildlife Service renewed their commitment for another five years in a 2024 Interagency Agreement.