Current:Home > InvestHow to save a slow growing tree species-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
How to save a slow growing tree species
View Date:2024-12-23 23:30:32
Stretching from British Columbia, Canada down to parts of California and east to Montana, live the whitebark pine. The tree grows in subalpine and timberline zones — elevations anywhere from 4,000 to almost 9,000 ft. It's an unforgiving space. The wind is harsh. Plants and animals confront sub-freezing temperatures, often until summertime.
The whitebark pine has historically thrived in these lands.
But today, the tree species is in trouble. So much so that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the whitebark pine as a threatened species in December 2022. Increased fire intensity from climate change and colonial fire suppression practices, infestation by mountain pine beetles and a deadly fungus called blister rust — they're collectively killing this tree.
Losing whitebark pine on the landscape does not mean just losing one type of tree. It's a keystone species, meaning it has a large, outsized impact on its ecosystem. The tree provides habitat to small animals, shelter for larger ones and food for local fauna like birds and bears. Historically, the seeds have been a first food for local Indigenous peoples such as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The tree also provides shade, slowing glacial melt that would otherwise flood the valleys below.
Researchers like ShiNaasha Pete are working to restore the tree. ShiNaasha is a reforestation forester and head of the whitebark pine program for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in northwestern Montana. They hope to successfully grow a new generation of trees that are naturally resistant at least to the blister rust fungus. It is a labor-intensive effort and it will take decades to see the full effect.
"Our main goal is just to constantly, continuously plant as many seedlings as we can in hopes that the ones that we are planting have a genetic resistance to this fungus," says Pete. In some spots, the population of the tree has already plummeted by 90 percent. But, as ShiNaasha tells Short Wave producer Berly McCoy, she remains steadfast in her work.
"I'm hoping that these younger generations are listening and hear what we're trying to share and the importance of it and that they'll continue it," ruminates ShiNaasha. "That's what I look forward to and that's what I know — that it'll pay off and that whitebark will still be there."
To learn more about the whitebark pine, check out the Headwaters Podcast.
Listen to Short Wave on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
Reach the show by emailing [email protected].
This podcast was produced by Liz Metzger, edited by our managing producer Rebecca Ramirez and fact checked by Anil Oza. The audio engineer was Josh Newell.
veryGood! (331)
Related
- College football Week 12 expert picks for every Top 25 game include SEC showdowns
- Amtrak train in California partially derails after colliding with truck
- Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard Are Ready to “Use Our Voice” in Upcoming Memoir Counting the Cost
- Don’t Miss This Chance To Get 3 It Cosmetics Mascaras for the Price of 1
- GreenBox Systems will spend $144 million to build an automated warehouse in Georgia
- Kaley Cuoco Reveals If She and Tom Pelphrey Plan to Work Together in the Future
- Solar Energy Boom Sets New Records, Shattering Expectations
- Kate Middleton Is Pretty in Pink at Jordan's Royal Wedding With Prince William
- Who will save Florida athletics? Gators need fixing, and it doesn't stop at Billy Napier
- Going, Going … Gone: Greenland’s Melting Ice Sheet Passed a Point of No Return in the Early 2000s
Ranking
- Nicole Kidman Reveals the Surprising Reason for Starring in NSFW Movie Babygirl
- Lisa Rinna's Daughter Delilah Hamlin Makes Red Carpet Debut With Actor Henry Eikenberry
- California man sentenced to more than 6 years in cow manure Ponzi scheme
- Cows Get Hot, Too: A New Way to Cool Dairy Cattle in California’s Increasing Heat
- Digital Finance Research Institute Introduce
- Canada’s Tar Sands Province Elects a Combative New Leader Promising Oil & Pipeline Revival
- Landon Barker Appears to Get Girlfriend Charli D'Amelio's Eye Tattooed on His Arm
- UN Launches Climate Financing Group to Disburse Billions to World’s Poor
Recommendation
-
Judith Jamison, a dancer both eloquent and elegant, led Ailey troupe to success over two decades
-
What is malaria? What to know as Florida, Texas see first locally acquired infections in 20 years
-
Beanie Feldstein Marries Bonnie-Chance Roberts in Dream New York Wedding
-
Beanie Feldstein Marries Bonnie-Chance Roberts in Dream New York Wedding
-
Nevada Democrats keep legislative control but fall short of veto-proof supermajority
-
Richard Allen confessed to killing Indiana girls as investigators say sharp object used in murders, documents reveal
-
BP’s Incoming Boss Ready to Scale Down Gulf Clean-up Operation
-
Suniva, Seeking Tariffs on Foreign Solar Panels, Faces Tough Questions from ITC