White pines in decline: what can managers do?
Sierra Nevada Network. 2020. White pines in decline: what can managers do?. National Park Service
The Sierra Nevada is home to five species of white pine: sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), western white pine (P. monticola), foxtail pine (P. balfouriana), whitebark pine (P. albicaulis), and limber pine (P. flexilis). From mid-elevation, mixed-conifer forests where sugar pine grow to upper montane forests graced by hardy western white pines to the subalpine where whitebark, foxtail, and limber pines persist, these trees represent foundational components of these ecosystems. But white pines are threatened by the non-native pathogen white pine blister rust, a warming climate, altered fire regimes, and changing dynamics of mountain pine beetles. These stressors have interacted to significantly reduce populations of some white pines, particularly whitebark pine, a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Regional scientists and managers are working together to address conservation and management of sugar pine and whitebark pine, the two species currently most at-risk.
- Type
- Resource Brief
- Authors
- Sierra Nevada Network
- Date of Issue
- 2020
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- SEKI , SIEN , YOSE
- Keywords
- climate change, drought, fire severity, foxtail pine, genetic diversity, high-elevation forest brief, mountain pine beetles, Pinus albicaulis, Pinus balfouriana, Pinus lambertiana, Pinus monticoloa, prescribed fire, rust resistance, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Sierra Nevada, sugar pine, western white pine, white pine blister rust, white pines, whitebark pine, whitebark pine restoration, Yosemite National Park
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Infestations and Disease | Insect Pests , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Infestations and Disease | Plant Diseases , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Forest/Woodland Communities
See also
- Monitoring white pine (Pinus albicaulis, P. balfouriana, P. flexilis) community dynamics in the Pacific West Region - Klamath, Sierra Nevada, and Upper Columbia Basin Networks
- Whitebark and Foxtail Pine in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks: Initial Assessment of Stand Structure and Condition