Z-AP-WYOMING

Study: Yellowstone-area whitebark toll 1M acres

Posted: Jul 21, 2010 12:39 PM
Updated: Jul 21, 2010 12:39 PM

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) A researcher says the recent death toll of whitebark pines in the Yellowstone area is approaching and could far exceed the acreage of all trees that burned in the region's infamous 1988 wildfires.

The Natural Resources Defense Council released a report Wednesday on the dead and dying high-elevation forests in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Report author Wally Macfarlane says aerial photographs and maps document 1 million acres of whitebark forest dead or nearly so from mountain pine beetles and an invasive fungus. Another 1 million acres are considered at risk.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to decide next year on the group's petition to list the pine as endangered. The group says climate change is primarily responsible by causing the beetle outbreak.

Topics: Whitebark Pine

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