An Evening for Whitebark Pine, Sept. 28, Bozeman, Mt
The Ricketts Conservation Foundation and American Forests in association with Yellowstone National Park is hosting an event on September 28, 2023, at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. The event will publicize conservation work for whitebark pine and highlight its seed disperser Clark’s nutcracker. This is the unveiling of a video on Clark’s nutcracker to go in the Visitor’s Center in Yellowstone National Park. It includes footage of nutcracker fieldwork by Dr. Diana Tomback, CU Denver Department of Integrative Biology, and her students, including capture efforts.
Dr. Tomback will be part of a panel of leading experts who will discuss what is needed to restore whitbark pine in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and across its range. the showing (see below). Cam Sholly, Superintendent of Yellowstone, will be speaking at this event. Cam Sholly, Superintendent of Yellowstone, will be speaking at the event as well.
Through the work of Dr. Tomback and her student’s research, CU Denver is highly involved in conservation for this wieldy distributed, ecologically important forest tree which is found in most iconic places in the west such as Yosemite, Crater Lake, Yellowstone, Glacier, and more. The tree, although in remote high elevation habitat, is declining rapidly from anthropogenic threats. It is a poster child for the ubiquitous nature of human -caused threats. Dr. Tomback and her students also work on another tree that could be listed as endangered in the future, limber pine.