These seeds may hold genetic key to protecting Western forests » Yale Climate Connection

In the American West, small cages adorn towering whitebark pines and punctuate high-elevation landscapes.

These cages are placed around the pine cones to protect their increasingly precious contents: the seeds.

The survival of slow-growing whitebark pines is threatened by a range of pressures: an invasive fungus called vesicular rust, a hungry beetle, and increasingly severe wildfires in a landscape made dry by human-made climate change.

Blister rust was introduced to the United States from Asia around 1900. In pine trees, it first causes yellow or red spots on the needles, followed by cankers, branch swelling, and death.

Some foresters believe that seeds taken from mature pine trees that have not yet been infected by the rust fungus offer the trees' best chance of survival. The idea is that the DNA of the saplings grown from these seeds will contain the same code for rust resistance as the parent tree.

But more than 100 species of animals feed on whitebark pine seeds, putting this genetic treasure at risk. So every spring, foresters place cages on the cones of mature trees to prevent them from being eaten. They return in the fall to collect cones, harvest seeds, and begin planting the next generation of saplings.

This tree has deep cultural significance to the Salish and Kootenai tribes. Tribal member Mike Durglo said plans to protect the species will last for generations.

“We won't see the fruits of our labor in our lifetimes, but our children, our grandchildren and the next generation will, and that's why we do what we do,” he said. “It’s with that hope that we can make a difference.”

Yale Climate Connection spoke with Duglo, the tribe’s climate change coordinator, to discuss the importance of whitebark pine to their people and efforts to save this key species for future generations.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Yale Climate Link: Can you start by telling us about whitebark pine and why it’s important to the ecosystem and your people?

Mike DuGlow: Whitebark pine is a slow-growing tree that grows above 6,000 feet in elevation. It helps retain snow. It also provides a food source for more than 100 different animal species, including us. We haven't used these seeds for many, many years, but when I talked to my elders, they talked about going over the mountain pass [when they were little] They stopped to camp at the mountain pass, picked the cones of the whitebark pine, roasted them by the fire, and ate the seeds. They are very high in protein and fat, so they are loved by bears, squirrels and Clark's nutcrackers.

Whitebark pine restoration is a nationwide effort. Around 2015 we really started doing more research on whitebark pine. One of the things we realized was that the different forestry programs around us, like the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies that were doing forest work, were already doing work around the whitebark pine before we started. So they already have some understanding of the importance of planting seeds that are resistant to blister rust, a fungus that clings to trees.

What [Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes] What the forestry does is they go into those areas in the forest that have whitebark pine and they basically have to find what they call plus trees. You can look up at the mountains and you'll see all these dead trees, in the middle of all these hundreds of dead trees, and you'll see this beautiful green whitebark pine tree growing in the middle of all these dead trees. So these trees are what they call plus trees – they've survived – they're genetically resistant to rust and they can survive pine beetles. Whitebark pine cones grow at the very top of the tree—they are not scattered throughout the tree. So climbers have to climb up trees, place cages over the cones in the spring so birds, squirrels and bears don't get to them, and then they have to climb back in the fall to collect the cones. They then do genetic testing at the nursery, and those seeds become the next generation of whitebark pine babies.

YCC: Can you talk more about how trees help clear snow?

Duglo: They do a lot of things in the ecosystem, but how they retain snow is through their canopy. When the snow comes, when you have a ghost forest [of dead trees]it just opened. You have all these dead trees, and the sun hits the ice and snow, and in the spring it melts very quickly. So when you have a tree canopy, it causes the snow to melt more slowly, and that's what we want to see at higher elevations, more canopy cover. This also removes carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. So the more trees we plant, the better.

YCC: You mentioned bubble rust. What other threats are there to trees?

Duglo: [The trees are under attack from pine beetles.] Pine beetles are native. They've been there for as long as we can remember. But what is happening now is that we are seeing that winter is not as cold as it used to be. So while it's not cold enough to kill, they have several generations [bugs]. In the past, if the temperature was low enough, such as below 30 degrees for a period of time, the bugs would be killed. One of our elders, Louis Adams, said it was nature's way of cleansing the environment – when it gets that cold, it just kills a lot of different bugs and diseases. A long time ago, they didn't think about, “Oh, it has to be cold enough to kill disease and bugs.” So we know a lot more about that now.

I have lived in the Mission Valley in northwest Montana my entire life. I have been working on climate change issues for many years. I truly feel that we are living in the Kingdom of God. It's so beautiful, and when people are in a situation like this, it's hard for them to really believe or see the effects of climate change. But if you drive down Highway 93 and look up into the mountains, you'll see those dead trees, mostly whitebark pine.

YCC: So you're doing the work now to collect the seeds. How big will the seedlings be when replanted?

Duglo: once [our foresters] Seeds are collected, they take them to the lab for testing, then they grow those seeds, and that's [two] They spend many years in greenhouses before they are old enough to be grown in the forest. Those little whitebark tree babies take about 70 years [to reach peak cone production].

Editor's Note: Whitebark pines don't produce cones until 25-30 years later, but they can take up to 80 years to produce seeds capable of germinating seedlings. Peak cone production begins in 60-80 years and lasts for hundreds of years. Whitebark pine will not reseed on its own. It relies on Clark's nutcrackers to find and store seeds. Many, but not all, stored seeds are later discovered and eaten by birds or other animals.

The Clark's nutcracker is the bird that spreads these seeds. They gathered 90 [or more] The seeds are placed in a bag in their mouth, and then they fly around, dig a small hole, and put two or three seeds in it. Then they would look around for a rock and put dirt over the seed and then put a rock on top. So if you look at whitebark pine, a lot of times you'll see three or four in a clump — they're growing together.

YCC: You mentioned how long it takes for these trees to grow large enough and start producing their own seeds. How to keep up with losses and delays before producing new products?

Duglo: ShiNaasha Pete, our whitebark pine expert who does most of the work, talks about [the fact that] Much of the work we are doing on climate change is something we will never see. I will never see those whitebark pine trees. I'm almost 65 and it takes them 70 years to mature; I wouldn't be here. So we have to have hope. We won’t see the fruits of our labor in our lifetime, but our children and grandchildren will, and that’s why we do what we do. It is with this hope that we can make a difference.

YCC: I understand how you choose the ones that are most resilient in your environment. Did you know these traits are heritable?

Duglo: We hope. There's a reason why we see only one dead green tree among hundreds, and that's resilience. It's kind of like us – some of us are more resilient than others. Why? When I got COVID, it was like having a bad cold—I lost my sense of smell and taste. be my neighbor [got COVID he] In death, he is healthier than me. The same goes for trees. Why is that one tree still there among hundreds of trees? This is what we want to learn. That's why we genetically test them to find out what makes that tree special.

YCC: So is it too early to say whether these plants will become more resilient when replanted?

Duglo: That's basically it. I'm by no means a subject matter expert on whitebark pine, but the more you read and study these things, the more you see that everything is connected – from that whitebark pine tree at the top of the mountain to the trout or salmon in that creek at the bottom of the mountain , they are all connected. I think we just hope that what we're doing makes a difference.

YCC: So what are your hopes for the future?

Duglo: Can I say something else first?

YCC: certainly.

Duglo: I think of Clark's nutcrackers who depend on these seeds, not just birds, but bears, squirrels and other animals. So we planted thousands of trees and it took 70 years. How many generations have passed before the nutcracker matured? Will they remember how to collect those seeds and how to grab that rock and put that rock there? Will they remember this? I hope so. Do you remember when COVID hit and everything stopped? It's great because the fish haven't been in these streams for a while and people are starting to see different things happening in the sky here in Los Angeles and around the world.

Maybe we need to experience something like this again, maybe we need to learn from it. But we want to get back to normal. We can't. we can't. If we want to survive, if we want our next generation to have this beautiful world, then we cannot go back to the way it was. We must learn.

So I guess it will be there. Like those salmon in a river that hasn't been there in hundreds of years, they still know. It's there.