I am surprised not much has been said, it isn't like it happened over night. The damage has been obvious for 5 or 6 years. We were in the park two weeks ago, and another vistor remarked at all the fire damage. I told him it was from the white pine bark beetle. He wanted to argue, because he had watched the parks video on the 88 fires and just knew it was from that fire.

I think parts of the south central area of Wyoming are even worse. Sad thing, even in National Forests they are not allowing any logging. Both areas are ripe for huge fires! Over 50% of the trees are affected and it is going to be hard to imagine Wyoming forests devoid of trees.


Beetles take bite out of whitebark
: Thursday, July 22, 2010 1:15 am

Dying whitebark pine and other evergreen trees in central Yellowstone National Park show clear signs of pine beetle infestation in this photo from 2007. (Courtesy/Ecoflight) .
..CHEYENNE -- Whitebark pine trees in the Yellowstone area are dying at a rate approaching the acreage of all trees that burned in the region's vast 1988 wildfires, a researcher says.

The Natural Resources Defense Council released a report Wednesday on the dead and dying high-elevation forests in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Aerial photographs document 1 million acres of whitebark forest dead or nearly so from mountain pine beetles and an invasive fungus, report author Wally Macfarlane said. Another 1 million acres of whitebark are at risk, he said, with scattered dead trees an ominous sign that beetles might soon take a heavy toll in those forests as well.

"The progression is one-way. As soon as the beetles get into these forests, what we've found is it pushes forward to an outbreak level," Macfarlane said.

Researchers last year flew over an area the size of South Carolina and took photos of the region's 2.5 million acres -- 3,900 square miles -- of whitebark.

"That system was really pretty much in equilibrium for thousands of years. It has undergone absolute, dramatic change in just six years," said Jesse Logan, a co-author of the report and former head of bark beetle research for the U.S. Forest Service.

"Ecologically that's an astounding event."

The death of the forests has wide-ranging implications.

Whitebark pine nuts are an important, high-calorie food for grizzly bears, a federally protected threatened species. Whitebark forests also keep high-elevation snowfall from blowing or melting away before spring runoff provides critical water for cities and agriculture.

The researchers mapped the photographs and classified the proportion of dead and dying trees on a 1-6 scale. Forty-six percent of the whitebark forest surveyed scored 3 or higher, with beetle kill ranging from widespread to practically every tree.

The NRDC has petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the whitebark pine as a threatened or endangered species. The service announced Monday it will study threats to the trees further and announce in a year whether such protection is needed.

"It's going to be pretty hard to refute the trajectory of the species. With the information that's gathered, I think they're going to have a hard time not listing the whitebark pine," said Macfarlane, with GEO/Graphics, Inc., in Logan, Utah, who coordinated the study funded by the U.S. Forest Service and NRDC.

Whitebark pines can live up to 1,000 years and thrive in higher, harsher conditions than most other trees in the Rocky Mountains. Yet their evolved defenses against beetles are limited compared to those of lower-elevation tree species, said Louisa Willcox with the NRDC.

"Whitebark pine is basically a sitting duck to the mountain pine beetle," she said.

An invasive fungus, blister rust, has been taking a toll on whitebark pine for a century. The recent toll from beetles has been far greater, however.

The NRDC blames climate change for the higher temperatures that have enabled beetles to proliferate from one winter to the next.

In 1988, wildfires burned 1.2 million acres in and near Yellowstone National Park. The whitebark devastation hasn't drawn nearly as much attention, partly because most whitebark in the region grow above 8,500 feet -- for the most part out of sight from paved roads.

Yet the whitebark devastation could last much longer than the Yellowstone fires. The trees take much longer to regenerate than the lower-elevation species that burned, said Logan.

"It's a really different ecological situation in whitebark," he said.

Logging is a Critter's best friend. Burns can do great things to help too,assuming they are controlled efforts.

yep and 15-18 yrs ago when it was aparent there was a problem it was ignored and now it a "huge" ecological diasater?
where the f##k were these idiots then?
and what about the study out of glacier NP
that showed when the wbp's die the griz readily find another food source?
no ground work in the field,no boots on the ground research,fly over and take a picture
before they can figure out there is a problem.
we sure learned "alot" about wolves and bears in the past 15 yrs thou.
how do you protect an endangered tree?????

Those calling the shots,are "educated" beyond their intelligence.

Logging,Predator Control and a keen eye on carrying capacity will solve all woe(s).

The area in north-central Colorado, where I hunt elk, was hit hard a few years ago too. Most young trees survived, also older trees close to water do OK, this infestation won't wipe out the white bark pine.

It is always difficult for me to embrace blatant mismanagement.

When the cards come together, the whole area is ripe for a fire that will make the 88 fires look like a bonfire! I get a little confused over the white pine bark beetle and just white pine, you see the infestation in other pines as well. Even here in town pines are dieing. So the "above" 7500 feet doesn't hold true. For white pine maybe, but I see it in spruces, ponderosas, and even balsam.

Kudu56

Last summer I stopped into the Forest Service District office in Dubois and I asked the lady behind the counter what the hell the Forest Service was doing about the Pine Beetles that were killing all the trees. She stated that they were spraying the trees around the campgrounds, then I asked what about the rest of the forest? She said that it was to expencive to fly a plane or have ground crews out spraying Expencive, I said you wait until lightning hits and the whole damn forest goes up in a ball of smoke, then it will get expencive.

Steve

Fires are a spring time seasonal event in Alaska, we had one 7-8 years back all around our community ; it was 30-40 miles across all told and they had close to 500 fire crew in here trying to get a hold on it. Finally it rained and put her out. I had sprayers all over my home and 1/2 inch of hot ash on my porch every morning.

But here's the kicker: We have a summit 15 miles outta town and the moose live at treeline once they gather up their cows. So many people hunt the summit for moose. Usually 5-10 moose are shot on the summit. Last season close to 30 bulls were shot in a 30 mile section. I believe the fire and regrowth had something to do with it too.

It's better to have a couple moose/sq mi. rather than one moose every 10 sq miles; food & wolves play their part in good moose populations.

The Forest Circus is amazingly adept at routinely dropping the ball.