Limber Pine

Parks where protocol will be implemented

• City of Rocks National Reserve
• Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve

Importance / Issues

• Throughout the West, limber pine is suffering extensive, heavy mortality due to the invasive exotic fungal disease white-pine blister rust. Blister rust causes tree cankers which often results in cessation of cone production and in some cases, death of the tree.
• Limber pine contributes significantly to the biodiversity of City of Rocks National Reserve and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, both directly as a unique tree species and indirectly as habitat for associated plants and animals. Blister rust infection was first documented in Craters of the Moon NM&P in 2006 but has yet to be documented in City of Rocks NR.
• Monitoring of blister rust infection in limber pine populations will contribute to the understanding of landscape and stand level changes in vegetation and fuels structure as well as allow researchers to detect trend data needed to assess current outbreak status and develop an appropriate management response. This monitoring will also add to the region-wide investigations into 5-needle pine disease dynamics.

Preliminary Monitoring Objectives

1. To estimate the proportion of limber pine trees infected with blister rust , and to estimate the rate at which infection of trees is changing over time.
2. Within infected transects, to determine the relative severity of infection (i.e. stage and magnitude of infection and proportion of canopy kill) and to estimate the change in severity over time of blister rust in limber pine trees.
3. To estimate survival of individual limber pine trees, explicitly taking into account the effect of the presence and severity of blister rust, infestations by beetles, dwarf mistletoe, and fire.

Potential Measures

Frequency of trees infected, distribution of infection in parks, number and location of cankers, and rate of survival after blister rust infection.

Management Applications

Information gathered from this monitoring will be used to:

• Provide early detection of blister rust infections and trigger early management intervention.
• Determine vulnerability of trees according to location.
• Identify resistant trees for genetic analysis.

Protocol Development & Status

The NPS Greater Yellowstone Network Inventory and Monitoring program has developed a monitoring protocol for blister rust in whitebark pine (a very similar species) and we plan to adopt and adapt these methods for our protocol as necessary. The UCBN plans to submit a draft limber pine monitoring protocol for peer review in 2010.

Contact Information

Lisa Garrett
Upper Columbia Basin Network Coordinator
University of Idaho
Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Moscow, ID 83844-1136
Email

Document Links

• Resource Brief (link to Reports & Pubs page)
• Protocol Development Summary