National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan
Quick Links
- Progress
- National Whitebark Pine Spatial Data Archive
- Restoration Plan Presentation: Tomback, Oct. 2021
Data Submission Information
Contacts
Diana Tomback, Ph.D., WPEF Policy and Outreach Coordinator, [email protected], 303-548-4400
Julee Shamhart, WPEF Executive Director, [email protected], 406-925-9545
Background
In summer 2016, the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation (WPEF) in partnership with American Forests approached the U.S. Forest Service with a bold idea: We proposed developing a collaborative inter-agency strategic rangewide restoration plan for whitebark pine. This would entail working with the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and tribal jurisdictions. Although Keane et al. (2012) had previously published a general rangewide restoration plan which emphasized methods (RMRS-GTR- 279), we would take the concept to the next logical level—the development of a geographic plan that focused on prioritized areas (“core areas”) for restoration.
The final agreement to pursue the plan was forged in spring 2017 as part of the National Whitebark Pine Summit with agency and tribal participation. We are grateful to the Washington Office of the U.S. Forest Service for their support of our shared vision, and particularly to former Deputy Chief Leslie Weldon. We continue t0 work on the NWPRP in consultation with U.S. Forest Service Washington Office leadership and an inter-agency and tribal liaison committee.
Whitebark pine has the largest distribution of any five-needle white pine in North America, but whitebark pine health is deteriorating rapidly across its range, particularly in the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest, and northern Sierra Nevada. The widespread decline in whitebark pine from an unprecedented combination of threats requires timely management intervention. In 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed whitebark pine for listing as “threatened” under the endangered species act. A listing decision is expected by late summer 2022. Whitebark pine was listed in 2012 as “endangered” under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. If listed in the U.S., whitebark pine would be the most-widely distributed forest tree under ESA protection, with over 75% of the U.S. distribution on U.S. Forest Service lands.
Restoration of whitebark pine poses logistical and fiscal challenges, given the magnitude of its distribution and budgetary constraints. These constraints argue for a strategic approach to restoration, emphasizing designated “core” areas, which will have the highest priority for restoration activities. These core areas should serve as ‘dispersal centers’ for whitebark pine to adjacent regions.
Desired Product
The final national whitebark pine restoration plan will be a report comprising the following:
- Nominated core areas for each administrative unit, based on a subset of criteria and given priority designations (e.g., 1 through 3). All nominated core areas combined represent a target proportion (e.g., 20% to 30%) of whitebark pine’s distribution in any administrative unit.
- Map of core restoration areas designated by priority.
- Narrative by agency and geographic unit within the agency.
- Specific restoration protocols assigned to nominated core areas.
- Estimated implementation costs for these restoration protocols.
- Monitoring and adaptive management sub-strategy.