Whitebark Pine Conservation Program 2018 Annual Report

Hooke, Jennifer

This report outlines the activities that were completed in 2018 as part of the Crater Lake National Park Whitebark Pine Conservation Program. Major activities of Crater Lake National Park’s Whitebark Pine Conservation Program in 2018 supported the Park’s goals and objectives for conserving and restoring whitebark pine. Cones were collected from three new whitebark pine trees and sent to the Dorena Genetic Resource Center for blister rust resistance screening. Sixty-four trees were subject to annual Collection tree monitoring efforts. This monitoring detected no new mortality of Collection trees, no new blister rust infections, and no new mountain pine beetle attacks. Fifty-one whitebark pines of management importance were treated with verbenone to help ward off attack by the mountain pine beetle. Results from the Park’s long-term monitoring plots indicate that whitebark pine is continuing its decline within plot areas, as mature whitebark pine have been reduced by 28.3% from 2003—2018. The leading mortality agents of whitebark pine within plot areas are white pine blister rust and mountain pine beetle. The Park’s six whitebark pine restoration plantings were monitored with survival rates ranging from 62.1%˗˗85.2% two to nine years after planting.

Whitebark Pine Conservation Program 2018 Annual Report

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