Laura Snider

Cone-collecting efforts strive to save limber pines

September 15, 2009 · Posted by in Environment 
Cones on a limber pine tree | Jesse Speer, rockymountainnationalpark.com

Cones on a limber pine tree | Jesse Speer, rockymountainnationalpark.com

First it was the mysterious, wide-spread death of aspen trees.

Then it was the near annihilation of all of Colorado’s mature lodgepole forests by a plague of pine beetles.

Now, the forest service is worried about limber pines and their relatives in the white pine family, including the ancient bristlecone pines.

The combination of blister rust — a non-native fungus — and pine beetles, which also feed on limber pines, is killing off the ancient trees at unprecedented rates.

The U.S. Forest Service has recently beefed up a campaign to save limber pines by looking for the hardiest trees and collecting their cones.

From last weekend’s Daily Camera:

On Saturday, the first of several groups of volunteers organized by Boulder County’s Parks and Open Space Department will scour the mountains west of Boulder in an effort to save the limber pines by collecting their cones.

The cones — and more importantly, the seeds they contain — will be handed off to the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station, where researchers will cultivate young pines, searching for the healthiest individual trees.

“We’re going to test the resulting seedlings for resistance to blister rust, an introduced fungal pathogen,” said Thomas Crow, manger of the limber pine program. “It’s part of a more proactive approach to management.”

Read the full story at DailyCamera.com, or learn more about blister rust at the Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Web site.

Read more posts about forest health on BigGreenBoulder:

The U.S. Forest Service wants to clear dead trees from powerline corridors in the White River National Forest. Falling trees or a fire have the potential to affect wide areas of the western power grid. Summit Daily/Bob BerwynBeetle-killed trees threaten Colorado power grid Colorado aspens in full fall colors | Photo by Mark LeffingwellRocky Mountain aspens could disappear by 2090

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