Whitebark Pine Restoration at The Yellowstone Club

Here at Yellowstone Club we are working toward promoting whitebark pine where we can. We have identified areas in need of restoration through analysis of our monitoring results. Our monitoring plan includes permanent plots located around property that aim to identify trends in mountain pine beetle, mortality, blister rust, and regeneration to name a few. Below are two of our whitebark pine restoration projects currently underway.

Pioneer fir clipping

This area was selected for restoration due to its high whitebark mortality, its proximity to chairlift views, and the amount of subalpine fir regeneration that has established recently. Our monitoring efforts indicate that most of the dead, mature trees in the stand died in the last mountain pine beetle epidemic. There is also some blister rust present within the stand. The project aims to eliminate competing species in order to promote whitebark regeneration. We have treated 20 acres so far, and we intend to keep treating more area.

Before

After

Transplanting

We have been transplanting whitebark seedlings from one of our ski runs into adjacent forest. 204 trees have been transplanted so far with intentions of transplanting more in the future. We are planning on monitoring the mortality rate through the coming years. The whitebarks that regenerate on the ski runs eventually die from grooming operations. Our efforts are working toward giving these seedlings a fighting chance.