Trouble in the Forest: Whitebark Pine Trees, Mountain Pine Beetles, and Climate Change

Have you ever hiked up a mountain and felt frosty wind blowing across your face? You might need to button jacket visit this place, but here, whitebark pine trees are right at home. Whitebark pines thrive in the highest forests of western North America. In these environments, help other, less-hardy species establish, grow, survive. For pine, chilly mountaintops provide refuge from insects, disease, competition with other trees. Yet as our climate changes, no longer have cold on their side. They dying alarming rates, one biggest killers is tiny bark beetle. How change helping little insect munch through huge swaths forest? National Park Service scientists use long-term monitoring studies unravel complicated relationship. This information guides resource managers entrusted protecting pines.