Bob, Don: Whitebark pine forests/woodlands are having a set complex set of problems. White pine blister rust (an exotic disease), mountain pine beetle (a native beetle that is in outbreak phase in many forests), and changing climate all at once. This is affecting the relationship between white bark pine and lodegepole pine as well, perhaps the beetle, blister rust and droughts are helping the lodgepole to move into whitebark's territory, while lower down the beetle is causing major mortality in lodgepole and ponderosa pines. I am on the committees of three graduate students who are studying whitebark pine and other high elevation forests in the Rocky Mountains, and two of them will finish soon, so you will see several papers on this topic be published in the next couple of years.
Lee [email protected] wrote: > > Don, > > > > As best as I remember from my travels last summer to Idaho, the > white bark pine was having problems in parts of Wyoming. But, I mostly > saw lodgepole pine and wasn't always conscious when there was a mix of > the two species. > > I'll get up to altitudes of 11,000 to almost 11,500 feet going > across some of the Colorado passes. In southern Colorado, the > timberline is between 11,500 and 12,000 feet. So, I should see plenty > of high elevation forests and will dutifully report on what I see. I > remember from 3 years ago going across Wolf Creek Pass in the San > Juans seeing lots of beetle damage to ponderosa pines. Pines I had > seen in the mid-1980s were dead. It was a sad sight. > > BTW, I'll be tracking my emails on the trip with my IPhone. I broke > down and bought one, and so far, I love it. Apple has really thought > through the features. Most are intuitive and even though the monitor > is small, I can still see it. You can expand the print in a simple way. > > > > Bob > > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "DON BERTOLETTE" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 5:06:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Re: ENTS in the news > > Bob- > In the west in general and surely in Colorado, the media I attend to > describes the plight of the high elevation forests, particularly the > pines, in (what our fellow forum member Steve Springer denies) at > least a severe prolonged drought, and perhaps one of the signs of > global climate change. Gradient analysis may not benefit much of the > eastern forest, but for the western forests where a watershed may > contain an entire elevational gradient, forests are differentially > subject to moisture stress, and are showing higher mortality than > would be found in the natural range of variation. > If your travels take you into the higher elevations where whitebark > pines are found, I'd be interested in a first hand account of their > general health. The high elevation pines I've followed in the high > Sierras (foxtail, bristlecone, whitebark, sugar, western white) are > taking a hit, with potential catastrophy waiting with each monsoonal > wave of lightning storms, due to increased downed and coarse woody debris. > > In two weeks, I'll be assisting a friend in nominating a Kenai Birch > for the Alaska Register, and since the National Register doesn't list > one, perhaps we'll be nominating a National champion! > -Don > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 19:38:23 +0000 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ENTS] Re: ENTS in the news > > Don, > > The day will come when AFs will be lauding the Pennsylvania and > Alaska champion tree programs - and for good reason. Well, tomorrow, > it is off to Colorado Monica and I go. I hope to report from the field > as I go. > > Bob > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "DON BERTOLETTE" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 12:05:04 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] ENTS in the news > > Fellow ENTS- > Just received the current American Forests, and saving the best for > last, they had a great article applauding Bob Van Pelt's (and ours > too!) obsession with champion trees...it's a good read! > -Don > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about storage limits. > Check it out. > <http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Storage?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_Storage1_052009> > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out. > <http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_BR_life_in_synch_052009> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
