The Wildlife News

A Project of Sage Steppe Wild

whitebark pine

  • Missoula hosts Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee meeting today and tomorrow

    Ralph Maughan

    They will claim whitebark pine are not necessary to delist Yellowstone area grizzly bears- They tried to delist the Greater Yellowstone grizzly population back in 2007, but skeptical bear conservationists sued because of the collapse of the thought-to-be-vital whitebark pine in the Greater Yellowstone. Bears feed voraciously on their protein and fat-filled nuts in the fall at…

  • Greater Yellowstone griz to seek food in lower elevations this autumn

    Ralph Maughan

    Poor whitebark pine crop but a good berry crop brings bears lower and closer to people- This year as the Yellowstone country grizzly bears enter their time of peak appetite to prepare for hibernation they have a good berry crop to fatten on. However, there is a poor crop of the oil and protein rich…

  • Time of the year when grizzlies get very hungry is here

    Ralph Maughan

    It’s called “hyperphagia” Grizzly bears get a serious case of the “munchies” this time of the year. “Ravenous” is more the word. It is overwhelming and not a matter of personal character, but genetic programming to prepare for the winter hibernation. News media articles, agency warmings, and word of mouth tells people that the bears…

  • U.S. government will add whitebark pine to endangered species list

    Ralph Maughan

    Critical high altitude pine has been nearly wiped out by beetles, fire, blister rust- These trees with fat rich nuts are already getting federal government attention, but mortality is even worse than thought. The large majority of whitebark grow on U.S. public lands. The work will concentrate on protecting existing stands using pheromones to confuse…

  • Whitebark Pine Trees Face Long Odds for Survival

    Ralph Maughan

    But several million dollars a year for starting seedlings in nurseries might restore it- This is perhaps the first article I have read that offers a glimmer of hope for this rapidly disappearing tree, so vital to grizzly bears and Clark’s nutcrackers. Whitebark Pine Trees Face Long Odds for Survival. By Laura Petersen, E&E reporter…

  • Greater Yellowstone grizzly numbers top 600 for first time

    Ralph Maughan

    Record population is reached amidst a year of bear food stress and many mortalities- This is a replacement of the original article (it’s more complete). Grizzly numbers hit new high in Yellowstone region. By Matthew Brown. AP Because of the late spring, just average berry crop, and failure of the whitebark pine nut crop (there…

  • Death of whitebark pine results record number of WY grizzly captures this year

    Ralph Maughan

    Hungry grizzlies at lower elevations, find livestock, along with natural food- Although federal grizzly bear managers have been sanguine about the the death of whitebark pine in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, the effect on the grizzlies is obvious in Wyoming. They have come down from the subalpine where the whitebark pine will never again have…

  • Losing the Whitebark Pine affects much more than grizzly bears

    Ralph Maughan

    “We don’t know what’s going to happen without whitebark.”- I know it will soon be functionally extinct, although no doubt some token remnants will be protected from beetles and blister rust. Ecologically speaking, it is already almost gone. Here is a long essay on its demise and the effects. Feature article in New West. Grizzlies…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

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Jim Fowler

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