Whitebark Pine Cone Surveys

The Conservation Strategy for the Grizzly Bear in the Yellowstone Ecosystem (Interagency Conservation Strategy Team 2003) directs the NPS, USFS and USGS to monitor food sources of the grizzly bear, including ungulate carcasses, cutthroat trout, army cutworm moths and whitebark pine. Specifically mentioned in the conservation strategy is monitoring of select transects of whitebark pine throughout the GYE for cone production and white pine blister rust occurrence. Cone transect monitoring has been led by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team and consists of cone counts and some blister rust monitoring (Haroldson and Podruzny 2006).