The Whitebark Pine survives harsh weather conditions and can live over 1,000 years and grow over 90 feet tall. The oldest is over 1,200 years old and is living in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest.

“The Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a marvelous tree – what ecologists call a keystone, or foundation, species,” the Bureau of Land Management notes on its website. “Its roots stabilize rocky soils at the snowy, windswept 6,000- to 12,000-foot elevations where it grows, and its large, high-protein seeds feed several bird and mammal species – nuthatches, squirrels, black bears, grizzly bears, and red foxes.”

In addition to feeding several birds and mammals, the tree provides shelter and nest sites for many animals including deer and elk. It is also key to helping with Idaho’s water supply.

“Tolerant of the harshest conditions, whitebark pine grows at the highest treeline elevations; its canopies shade snowpack and protract snowmelt, thus regulating downstream flows; its roots stabilize soil, which reduces erosion, particularly on steep, rocky slopes,” the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation notes. “Thus, whitebark pine protects watersheds, which is important for both agricultural and drinking water.”

Another interesting fact about the Whitebark Pine is that it relies solely on the bird – the Clark’s nutcracker – to reproduce.

“Carrying the seeds in a pouch under its tongue, the bird buries them in shallow soil caches, sometimes up to 10 km away,” the National Park Service notes on its website. “Nutcrackers are known to cache up to 90,000+ seeds in a good seed crop year!”

These trees are very slow-growing. For example, once the seeds start to sprout, it can take the whitebark pine 25 to 30 years to begin producing cones. At 60 to 80 years, the tree’s peak cone production begins.

While the Whitebark Pine is crucial to Idaho’s ecosystem, its survival has been threatened by several different factors.

“Today, their survival as a species is jeopardized by mountain pine beetle outbreaks, altered fire regimes, climate change, and a fungal infection called white pine blister rust,” BLM notes.

In 2022, the Whitebark Pine was officially listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. To learn more about the efforts to save the Whitebark Pine, head to BLM’s website here.