Blister Rust in Western Pines

Blister Rust in Western Pines

== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Tues, May 27 2008 10:44 am
From: DON BERTOLETTE

Gary-
WHile I've moved to Alaska recently, the blister rust seemed to have run its course and probably is waiting for global climate change to provide it with new inroads...:>|
-DonRB

== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Tues, May 27 2008 7:58 pm
From: "Robyn Darbyshire"

Here in southern Oregon/northern California, rust-resistant sugar and white
pines are planted when planting stock is needed and my opinion is the same
as Don RBs. However, the bigger concern now is the whitebark pine and
higher elevation 5-needle pines and the impact of blister rust on them, as
they are an important food source for Clark's nutcrackers and other animals
that live at those higher elevations.

== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Tues, May 27 2008 9:16 pm
From: DON BERTOLETTE

Robin-
Thanks! I knew there was somebody on the forum more current than I on California/SoOre. The five needle pines are some of my favorites...white bark pines are big source for Clark's nutcracker habitat...much like the Abert Squirrel, ponderosa pine, and truffles on Grand Canyon's North Rim.

-DonRB

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Blister rust in the western pines.
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/5d61b47f10d3325f?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Jun 4 2008 9:13 pm
From: "Robyn Darbyshire"

I am a big fan of sugar pine and white pine too - white pine since I went to
college and spent the early part of my career in northern Idaho, and sugar
pine since I have been in southwestern Oregon for nearly 20 years now.
There was a sentinel sugar pine killed in the 2002 Biscuit Fire, and since
it was on the uphill side of the road, it was felled as a danger tree. I
was able to get some folks to cut a "cookie" from the stump for me - the
cookie is 6' in diameter and weighed a lot before it dried out - it took
about 6 people to carry it down the roadcut. We have dried it and sanded it
- the irony is that it survived at least one earlier fire when it was only
about 3" in diameter. Someone else also gave me a series of photos of it
when it was alive, fading, and then had no needles left before it was cut,
so I have that to display along with the cookie.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Blister rust in the western pines.
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/5d61b47f10d3325f?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 2 of 6 ==
Date: Thurs, Jun 5 2008 11:13 am
From: DON BERTOLETTE

Robyn-
In my few years on the Plumas National Forest, I visited what was at the time the state champion sugar pine, which I remember at almost 8' dbh (time could have made that larger, in my mind?). What with challenging vegetation and the recent drought, I imagine it suffered a similar fate...what a magnificent tree!
For more than a decade now, I visit the Sierras (old fraternity brother gathering) every October, and each time I visit, I find bigger and bigger trees...the area (El Dorado NF, at 5700' nearest to Pollack Pines on Hiway 50) has a relatively undisturbed classic mixed conifer old-growth forest...ponderosa and white pines, cedars, and firs ranging from 5-7' dbh. Humbling!
-DonRB

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