Since the turn of the 21st century, whitebark pine of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been under assault. Due to a warmer climate, mountain pine beetles, which more habitually infest lower elevation lodgepole pine forests, have flourished at higher elevations. Whitebarks are apparently to their liking; in mixed stands of lodgepole and whitebark, beetles more often infest whitebarks, and grow bigger in the phloem of whitebarks than in lodgepoles. Weakened …continue…
Whitebark are literally the rooftop of the northern Rockies. Without the whitebark pines to capture and shade the snow, the spring/summer runoff will occur more quickly. Flooding will be more likely. Streams will be muddier. Steep mountainsides will be left barren and vulnerable to erosion.
Whitebark pine are the hardiest and most productive tree species in the wildlands of greater Yellowstone. Buffeted by freezing winds, roots dug into rocky soils, whitebark thrive at altitude, on mountaintops, where few other plants or animals survive. Despite the scant resources, they manage to produce the forest’s fattest seeds, which feed birds, squirrels, and bears. And they live longer than a thousand years, reach heights of five to seven …continue…
Assignment Earth‘s Gary Stryker looks into the pine beetle infestation of the GYE’s whitebark pines. This film was produced by Jackson Hole-based filmmakers Melinda Binks and Rebecca Huntington.