However,
blister rust infections and mountain pine beetle infestations, as well as climate change and other disturbances in timberline fire ecology, have caused severe whitebark pine population decline.
They then ship the cones to nurseries, where scientists grow, screen and test seedlings for resistance to
blister rust. The healthiest seedlings become part of a replanting program in national forests and other public lands in the West, including Glacier National Park.
White pine
blister rust harms every type of white pine.
"It's the first time the lantana
blister rust has been used as a biocontrol anywhere in the world, which makes this release really exciting."
Pathologists say some varieties of ribes are more resistant to white pine
blister rust than others, but varieties that were not showing any signs of the infection before are now found to be heavily infected.
And now a newer threat, expanding populations of mountain pine beetles, is exacerbating the effects of
blister rust. These small insects bore into mature pine trees, killing them by eating critical tissue under the bark.
Table 5--Water immersion test results Time Exposed: 168 hr 504 hr 1,008 hr Appearance
Blister Rust Blister Rust Blister Rust Sample Formula 1 10 10 10 10 8F-10 10 Formula 2 10 10 10 10 8F-10 10 Formula 3 10 10 10 10 8F-10 10 WB-X 6-8 MD 10 6-8 MD 10 4-6 D 9P-8G SB-Y 10 10 10 10 10 10
blister and
blister rust county, Jahweh trailerhouse county, unassisted
Both pines are dying from a combination of an introduced disease (white pine
blister rust), mountain pine beetle, fire suppression and a warmer climate.
For almost 100 years, the United States waged a war against currants and gooseberries because they serve as an alternate host for white pine
blister rust, a devastating disease of northern forests.
This dark, sweet, dessert gooseberry is highly resistant to both white pine
blister rust and powdery mildew, the fruit's biggest disease threat.
In some places, gooseberries are prohibited because they can carry the white pine
blister rust fungus.
They give as examples modification of the life cycle of nematode parasites in musk oxen in the Arctic and warming in the western US allowing the mountain pine beetle to double its life cycle, become more abundant, and spread the fungus they carry to pine trees in the highest elevations of the Rocky Mountains, where pine
blister rust has become serious.
Currant growing in the US was banned in the 1960s when white pine
blister rust was introduced.
During the summers he worked in the Adirondack Mountains for the New York State Conservation Commission, studying white pine
blister rust.