Julee Shamhart became the Executive Director of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation in January of 2023 and previously worked as the WPEF Operations Manager for 8 years. Prior to her work with WPEF, she was an elk research technician for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for 5 years, as well as a field technician for many years on projects ranging from lichen to grizzly bears. Julee has a Master’s degree in Natural Resources from the University of Hampshire and Bachelor’s degrees in Ecology and Public Relations. She enjoys running, biking, hiking and skiing among the high-elevation, five-needle pines.

Glenda grew up in Sacramento, California where her family spent time hiking and camping in the Sierra mountains; she earned her Forestry Science degree from Humboldt State University amongst the redwood forests. She began her 35-year forestry/ silviculture career with the US Forest Service working on seven National Forests in Alaska, Oregon, and Montana. She retired specializing in reforestation for Regions 1, 2, and 4, which covers the extent of the Rocky Mountains and then some. She was first introduced to the plight of whitebark pine during a field trip in the mid-90s on the Rocky Mountain Front. It piqued her interest, and she became an advocate for restoration and maintenance of these ecosystems. She joined the WPEF Board as the Treasurer and now serves as Chair. Her husband and adult children spend leisure time in the forests wherever they find themselves. In her spare time, she is often volunteering at the UM native plant garden, food bank and other charities, as well as tending her own garden, hiking and a little travelling.

I am a Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. My most recent research includes: 1) developing ecological computer models for exploring landscape, fire, and climate dynamics, 2) mapping of fuel characteristics, and 3) investigating the ecology and restoration of whitebark pine. I have been working in whitebark pine ecosystems since 1984 and built one of the first models of whitebark pine dynamics in 1990. I am one of the charter members of the WPEF, and served as the foundation’s Treasurer from 2000 to 2004, and as Board Member since 2004 until 2016 when I reached my term limit. I am also a member of the US-International Association of Landscape Ecologists and the International Association of Wildland Fire. I bring a wide variety of skills to the position of Board Member because of my past experience in that capacity and my strong background in whitebark pine ecology. I am currently serving as the editor of Nutcracker Notes.

I recently retired as the forest silviculturist on the Flathead National Forest. It has been my privilege to serve on the WPEF board of directors since 2010, first as a board member, and then as secretary since 2013. In 1981, I received a BS in forestry from the State University of NY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. I first got the whitebark “fever” in 1996 when I identified a bumper cone crop and completed a large cone collection. My passion for the resource, and my relationship with managers and researchers, has continued to grow over the years. In 2001, I became the first Chair of the Greater Yellowstone Area Whitebark Pine Committee. Under my leadership, the six national forests and two national parks came together and made great progress toward accomplishing ecosystem-wide goals. Recognizing the need for an ecosystem-wide restoration strategy, I wrote GYA Whitebark Pine Restoration Guidelines in 2005. My whitebark pine restoration accomplishments include a wide variety of projects including prescribed burning, planting, silvicultural treatments, plus tree identification and protection, and cone collection.

I’ve been very fortunate to complete whitebark and limber pine research projects in four states and two provinces.  Applied research includes blister rust dynamics, fire history, cone collecting techniques, and harvest retention.  At the University of Idaho, I earned a Ph.D. studying whitebark pine fire ecology and stand health along the Continental Divide between Salmon, ID and Wisdom, MT.  As Terrestrial Ecologist (NPS), I initiated Crater Lake National Park’s whitebark pine conservation program in 2003. As Forest Pathologist (Kootenay-Boundary Region of British Columbia Forest Service), I coordinate disease resistance screening, long-term ecological monitoring, and species recovery  (in addition to working on other host species and pathogens).  Lifestyle pursuits include gradually learning to sound somewhat acceptable on pedal steel guitar and becoming an award-winning broadcaster.

I am Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Colorado Denver. In addition, I am a founding member of the WPEF, and founding Director from 2001 to 2017. I have studied whitebark pine communities–ecology, population biology, and conservation, and, more recently, treeline dynamics–for more than 40 years and have authored more than 90 publications. I received my B.A. and M.A. in Zoology and Animal Behavior, respectively, from UCLA and my Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from UC Santa Barbara. While studying the behavioral ecology of the Clark’s nutcracker in the eastern Sierra Nevada for my doctoral dissertation, I discovered that the nutcracker is the primary seed disperser for whitebark pine. I joined the faculty of CU Denver in 1981. In the 1980s, I became part of an interdisciplinary team that aimed to understand whitebark pine declines in the northern Rocky Mountains and earned a U.S. Forest Service Centennial Conservation Award for its work. During my tenure as director, and with the help of a dedicated Executive Committee and Board of Directors, the WPEF gained a West-wide reputation for promoting awareness of the serious forest health challenges to whitebark pine, and for advocating management action.

Cara is a Professor in the Department of Ecosystem Sciences and Conservation at University of Montana’s W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation and the Director of the College’s Restoration Ecology Lab. Cara teaches undergraduate, graduate, and professional courses in restoration science and practice and has 15 years of experience contributing to restoration initiatives in the western United States and South America. She served as the Chair of the international Society for Ecological Restoration and assisted the Society with the development of its recently released International Principles and Standards for Ecological Restoration. Cara and her students have an active program of research on the ecology and restoration of whitebark pine.

I retired as the Region 1 Fire Ecologist in the USFS regional office in Missoula, Montana in 2013. I worked in various aspects of forest management over my tree-hugging career, including forest health, silviculture and fire management. In the 1990s, I was excited to lead the team creating the first whitebark pine treatments in conjunction with researchers at the Missoula Fire Lab on the Bitterroot NF. I coordinated with researchers on treatment unit design, wrote prescriptions and oversaw timber sale and non-commercial treatments, helped write burn plans, participated in prescribed burns, and presented results on operational aspects of whitebark pine management at various symposiums and whitebark pine meetings. In the last decade, I was on the Region 1 USFS whitebark pine committee and assisted with creation of Regional management guidelines and policy for whitebark pine, as well as gathered info for the Federal listing investigation process. I love trees and whitebark pine holds a special place in my heart.

Dr. Cansler studies the effects of disturbance and climate change on ecosystems in western North America, using field data and remote sensing. She is a certified Fire Ecologist with the Association for Fire Ecology, and fire has been continuing theme of her research. Her ecological research interests are broad, including: plant functional traits and community ecology, plant conservation biology, ecosystem biomass/fuel structure, reanalysis of large datasets, and use of active remote sensing for research and management.