Forest Health Protection: Mountain Pine Beetle Conditions in Whitebark Pine Stands in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, 2006
Gibson K. 2006. Forest Health Protection: Mountain Pine Beetle Conditions in Whitebark Pine Stands in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, 2006. Numbered Report 06-03. USDA Forest Service. Missoula, MT
Mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, (MPB) populations are currently at outbreak status in many parts of the intermountain West. More than one million acres of host stands are infested to some extent in the Northern Region alone. Most infested acres are in lodgepole pine stands; however, almost 143,000 of them are in whitebark pine (WBP). In the Northern Region, unusually high amounts of MPB-infested WBP stands are found in northern Idaho and west-central Montana in addition to forests in southwestern Montana, and Yellowstone National Park (NP)—the latter a part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). In 2005, we recorded the highest level of MPB-caused WPB mortality in any one year for which we have data. Unpublished office reports indicate a similar series of outbreaks existed in the 1930s—another period of unusually warm temperatures—in Southeastern Idaho, Southwestern Montana and Yellowstone NP; but we have no records documenting the extent of those outbreaks. By most accounts, those outbreaks were probably at least as extensive as current ones. So, while present outbreaks are devastating and unusual; they are likely not unprecedented.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Gibson, Ken
- Date of Issue
- 2006-02
- Publisher
- USDA Forest Service
- Units
- YELL
- Keywords
- Dendroctonus ponderosae (Mountain Pine Beetle), Pinus albicaulis (Scrub Pine White Pine Whitebark Pine)