Planting Whitebark Pine Seeds in Montana
The whitebark pine: ancient, resilient….and threatened. The high-altitude conifer faces dangers like wildfire, insects, and blister rust, but it still hangs in there, sinking its roots into rocky, sub-alpine soil. High in the mountains of southwestern Montana, a team of foresters from the Bureau of Land Management’s Dillon Field Office and American Forests recently visited a fire-scorched landscape to drop some whitebark pine seeds in the ground, hoping their efforts will take root in the coming years.