Clark's nutcracker. 



Whitebark Pine Mortal! 



7.000 



ty 



6.000 

 5.000 

 4.000 

 3.000 

 2.000 

 1.000 



I Federal 

 State 



Private 



Whitebark p'me mortality ir) 



Washington, source: Cooperative 

 Aerial Survey, Was/i/ngton Department of 

 Natural Resources ar\d USDA Forest 

 Service. 



Wildlife habitat is affected by the decline of 

 whitebark pine. White pine blister rust, fire 

 exclusion, and mountain pine beetle continue to 

 cause decline in whitebark pine. This tree is a 

 prominent upper-subalpine species that is important 

 as a source of food and habitat for many animals, 

 including the grizzly bear, and is a keystone species 

 in high-altitude ecosystems. Studies in 1991 and 

 1 992 in northwestern Montana showed the number 

 of mature whitebark pines rapidly decreasing. 

 Some whitebark pine stands in Glacier National 

 Park have mortality rates of up to 90%. Recently, 

 interest in the ejfects of blister rust on the survival of 

 whitebark pine in the northwestern portion of its 

 range, which includes Washington, has increased. 

 A preliminary survey in Mount Rainier National Park 

 completed in 1994 showed blister rust present in all 

 whitebark stands inventoried. Twenty-seven 

 percent of the plots within these stands had no 

 infected trees, supporting existing evidence that 

 whitebark pine exhibits a slight natural resistance 

 to the rust. Because the seeds of the tree are 

 spread by a bird, Clark's nutcracker, that caches 

 them in the ground, the most effective management 

 action to preserve this species would be to use fire 

 to make clearings in the thick, true fir stands so the 

 birds have a cleared place to hide the few seeds 

 produced by naturally resistant trees. 



:ija£a 



Balsam woolly adelgid has caused dieback and 

 death of hundreds of true fir since its introduc- 

 tion from Europe in the / 930s. 



Photo courtesy ofRussel Mitchell. 



Hardwoods 

 A decade of summer drought dam.ages 

 hardwoods — Nearly 10 years of continual 

 summer drought between 1987 and 1995 has 

 been hard on hardwoods in western Washing- 

 ton. The most commonly affected species are 

 red alder and bigleaf maple, although conifers 

 are affected as well. Damage has been wide- 

 spread, found in the Puget Sound area, the 

 Cascade foothills, and the San Juan and Puget 

 Sound Islands. Moisture stress and resulting 

 damage or death occurs between June and 

 September. Sjmiptoms range from scattered, 

 fading or red branches to whole tree mortal- 

 ity. Often whole stands are affected, some los- 

 ing up to 50% of the trees. This type of dam- 

 age is common on soils that dry rapidly in the 



Washington — 5 1 



