Whitebark Pine Seedlings

Deputy Refuge Manager Cortez Rohr holds a flat containing whitebark pine seedlings propagated from cones containing seeds he and technicians collected the previous year. The Missoula, MT DNRC tree seedling nursery is standing up a new whitebark pine conservation program in efforts to help save this keystone species. These are the first seedlings in this program. 50 whitebark pine seedlings will be planted on the Refuge's high elevation mountain boundaries while hundreds of other seedlings will be studied for blight resistance and planted in test plots throughout Montana. Pardon the steam on the camera lense - it was humid in the nursery! Photo by Cortez Rohr/USFWS.