An assessment of mountain pine beetle-caused mortality of

whitebark pine forests of the mountain areas of the Greater

Yellowstone Ecosystem

W. W. Macfarlane, J. A. Logan and W.R. Kern

Outline: 1. Overview of whitebark pine

2. System Knowledge: Assessment of

whitebark pine mortality (LAS)

3. Target Knowledge: Restoration/preservation strategy (Condition Assessment)

4. Information Knowledge: Public Engagement: TreeFight and NRDC

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE)

Watershed – Accumulation and Distribution of Snow, and Attenuation of Spring Melt

L. Craighead 2007

A Foundation Species

A Keystone Species

Mountain pine beetle is a native insect

Photo – Jeff Foote

Their strength lies in their numbers

and their jaws

©Jeff Hicke 2005

© Jesse A. Logan 2009

A Climate Change Issue

• Winters are becoming mild enough that even adult beetles, a freeze intolerant stage, are surviving => Spring re-emergence of parent adults. •Brood produced by re-emerged adults may experience enough thermal energy to complete the life cycle within the same year of attack. • Due to reduced chemical defenses (vs. lodgepole pine), these surviving beetles, at even relatively low densities, are able to kill whitebark pine trees. •The combination of a warming climate and the vulnerability of whitebark pine to attacking beetles has resulted in a shift from non-overlapping, semivoltine (life cycle requiring two years to complete) generations to overlapping, bi-modal, univoltine (life cycle completed in a single year). •Resulting in unprecedented levels of outbreaks both in intensity and spatial distribution (i.e., high-elevation systems).

1999

Resulting in an alarming level of mortality in previously inhospitable high elevation whitebark pine forests

EcoFlight 2007

2009 Tree Mortality

Assessment •We developed and used an aerial survey method to inventory mountain pine beetle-related mortality in whitebark pine, across the entire GYE.

Landscape Assessment System (LAS)

A collaboration between USDA Forest Service, GYCC Whitebark Subcommittee , Geo-Graphics and NRDC.

LAS Aerial Survey Method A tool for mapping the extent and intensity of MPB-related

mortality in WBP

•Flightlines consisted of 8,673 km •Photos were taken at the small catchment level (a10th of a sub-watershed)

•A total of 4,653 photos in 2,595 small catchments were captured

GYE Study Area and 2009 LAS Flightlines:

Flight height: 300-600 m above ground elevation

1 -Occasional spots of

red trees on the landscape

3 –Coalescing spots of red and gray

trees across the landscape.

4– “Sea -of -Red” where approximately 95% +

of the visible forest is dead

5-6 -Post outbreak forest mortality

ratings (gray forest)

2 -Multiple spots of red and gray trees

on the landscape

LAS Mountain Pine Beetle-related Mortality Categories

O -No unusual mountain pine beetle-caused

mortality (refers to landscapes that may contain the

occasional red tree but there is no evidence of mortality expanding to neighboring trees)

Small Catchment Mortality Map

Science-Management Partnership Whitebark Pine Strategy

Condition Assessment Tool GYCC Whitebark Pine Subcommittee

Assign an ecologically-based ranking for each whitebark pine

stand in the GYE

Model variables include –

1. Stand Type (Dominant versus Mixed)

2. Relative Canopy Cover (Open, Moderate or Closed)

3. LAS MPB-Caused Mortality Rating

Each stand given a numeric value for preservation & restoration and applied to a map

Whitebark Pine Condition Assessment

Tool

Results: High Priority Protection

Areas

•Areas on the map are the stands with the highest numeric rating for Protection with good access •The management strategy was to test the effectiveness of verbenone– An anti-aggregation pheromone

Tree fight.org A non-profit organization •An Integration of Science, Management & Volunteerism for Whitebark Pine Conservation •Summer 2010 involved over 100 volunteers in the study of using verbenone to attempt to protect high priority whitebark pine stands.

Public Engagement

Main goal: assess ecological implications using wildlife responses to ongoing whitebark mortality

•At what level of whitebark mortality does a forest stop performing certain ecological functions? •This will help managers focus protection and restoration efforts in areas most likely to maintain/ regain ecological function

2011 Volunteer Naturalist

Project Wild (NRDC and TreeFight)

Acknowledgments: USDA Forest Service, Natural Resources Defense Council

Summary

•95% of the whitebark pine sub-watersheds in the GYE are impacted by MPB and about 50% are currently highly impacted by this on-going outbreak •Using this mortality information resource managers have identified priority areas for preservation and restoration •Using the web, Utube videos and social media we have drawn people to the plight of the whitebark pine – people are getting out into this forests and learn about them •Future research will use volunteer naturalist to inventory the wildlife responses to the decline of whitebark pine.