Whitebark Pine Restoration in the St’at’imc Territory
Whitebark Pine is an endangered keystone species of high elevation ecosystems. It is an important food source for many species of wildlife, most notably the Grizzly Bear and Clark’s Nutcracker (primary seed disperser). It is endangered due to several agents, including the introduced White Pine Blister Rust, Mountain Pine Beetle, fire, and climate change. The most effective means for Whitebark Pine recovery is through promoting the regeneration of Blister Rust-resistant seedlings via planting or natural means.
This project will directly aid in recovery by planting seedlings grown from potentially rust-resistant parent trees, collecting additional seeds, and by initiating work to determine how local Clark’s Nutcrackers are utilizing Whitebark Pine forests, and aiding in its recovery. Whitebark Pine Planting: this project will restore approximately 10 hectares of Whitebark pine habitat by planting putatively resistant stock in these areas. Regeneration of sites by relying solely on the Clark’s Nutcracker is a much longer process that human-assisted planting will expedite. By engaging volunteers, this project will result in a greater number of people informed and motivated to do work on Whitebark Pine, as not only did they learn about it during this project but they assisted with implementation, which is a more tangible result. The production and planting of seedlings for this project exhausted all locally collected seed. This cone collection will provide benefit by enabling additional restoration work over the next two years. The health transects used to quantify each stand will be used to prioritize seed and stock for restoration purposes.
It is well-established that the Clark’s Nutcracker is a keystone species (a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend) that has co-evolved with Whitebark Pine in what biologists refer to as “mutualism,” whereby the nutcracker benefits from a high-quality food source, and in turn the pine benefits by the dispersal of seeds that are cached (often below ground) by the nutcrackers for later consumption. As the nutcrackers will not recover all seeds, many new pines will germinate. To this end, an understanding of the level of exploitation of Whitebark Pine stands by nutcrackers across the landscape will provide a gauge of natural seed exploitation and dispersal. In the short-term, the results will provide an important baseline.
Final Report: Executive Summary
Whitebark pine is an endangered keystone species of high elevation ecosystems. It is an important food source of many species of wildlife, most notably the Grizzly Bear and Clark’s Nutcracker (primary seed disperser). It is a blue-listed species in British Columbia and listed as endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). It is endangered due to several agents including the introduced white pine blister rust caused by the fungus Cronartium ribicola, mountain pine beetle, fire, and climate change. The most effective means for whitebark pine recovery is through promoting the regeneration of blister rust resistant seedlings via planting.
This project aided in whitebark pine recovery through the following means: planting seedlings grown from potentially rust resistant parent trees, collecting additional seed, improving whitebark pine seedling production practices, identifying regional health trends, and by initiating work to determine how local Clark’s Nutcrackers are utilizing whitebark pine forests and aiding in its recovery.
Click the provincial database link below to read the full final report for this project.