Whitebark Pine Tree Conservation
COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month proposed listing the whitebark pine as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
For the last 24 years, Glacier National Park has been quietly working to conserve the species over its 1 million acres of wildlands.
It is no small task.
The Park first began collecting cones from “plus” trees in 1997. Plus trees are adult, cone-bearing trees that have shown resistance to blister rust, noted Park vegetation biologist Dawn LaFleur.