Environmental issues are known to be divisive topics in the bureaucratic world. Particularly in a state such as Wyoming, where millions of acres of national forest and wilderness exist side by side with land being utilized for billions of dollars’ worth of natural resource generated revenue.
In the case of Wyoming’s Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) tree however, experts from various state and federal departments are all in agreement as to the tree’s importance. Which is why rapid loss of a large portion of Wyoming’s Whitebark population in the past decade has these same experts concerned.
“Whitebark pine is a vital part of the high elevation ecosystem,” said Karl Buermeyer, a vegetation manager for the Bridger-Teton National Forest. “Most importantly it regulates snow melt and snow accumulation at high elevation, and provides an important food source for grizzly bears.”
The Whitebark population in Wyoming and surrounding states has been greatly diminished due to two main factors in the past several years. One is the advent of a non-native European fungus known as blister rust which, upon infecting a tree, renders it incapable of producing more cones. Buermeyer said that blister rust spread is a concern mainly in the northern area of Whitebark pine populations.
Les Koch, a Forest Health Specialist with the Wyoming Forestry Division said there is progress being made by the Wyoming Forest Service in combating the blister rust problem.
“There’s a lot of work being done by the forest service right now in order to speed up the process of repopulating these Whitebark stands,” said Koch.
Healthy Whitebark pine trees will be inoculated with blister rust in order to find resistant phenotypes, which will then be used to strengthen a forest’s population, Koch said.
“We’ve been using methods such as these for quite a while,” said Buermeyer. “This isn’t new technology.”
The second major factor contributing to rapid decline in Whitebark populations is a well-documented issue in the greater Rocky Mountain Area. The mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic.
In an article titled “Mountain Pine Beetle’s Expansion in the West” authored by University of Montana Entomology and Pathology Professor Diana Six, the severity of the current mountain pine beetle outbreak is highlighted.
The article states that in British Columbia alone, an area previously untouched by MPB, 37 million acres of forest have been affected.
The tactics employed by government agencies in combating the onset of MPB populations in Wyoming differ greatly from those used to prevent death via blister rust contamination.
“To protect trees from beetles oftentimes we’ll spray them individually with either a pheromone that smells to the beetles as if the tree is already occupied,” Buermeyer said, “or a pesticide that kills the beetle once it burrows through the bark.”
These methods are used on various evergreen tree species, not simply Whitebark pine. In fact, MPB can disproportionately affect Whitebark pines due to the trees’ hard to get to location.
“We can only protect the trees that we can get to and spray,” said Buermeyer. “Because the Whitebark’s habitat is so high elevation, the deaths of these trees can more easily go unnoticed.”
Because Wyoming is not the only state experiencing loss of Whitebark populations, the efforts to protect and strengthen the remaining trees is an undertaking that involves various state organizations from Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, as well as federal involvement, said Buermeyer.
“The efforts taking place in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem are completely interagency,” said Buermeyer. “I think this is very unique and is working out quite well.”
A 2014 report released by the National Forest Service shows a yearly pinecone yield that displays positive trending numbers.
“There’s a lot of work being done on this right now,” said Koch. “Both federal and state organizations are involved with this, which shows that it’s an issue being taken seriously.”
