Scientists fight to save Crater Lake’s white-bark pine forests | Oregon Field Guide from the Archive

Crater Lake's iconic whitebark pine trees have been dying for decades, and park ecologists in this classic “Oregon Field Guide” story from 2002 estimate that they will be wiped out within 50 years. Blister rust, a fungus introduced from Europe over 100 years ago, has infected trees throughout the West Coast. Although the future looks bleak, scientists are trying to figure out how to protect the trees from this disease.

In the years since this story aired in 2002, scientists have been successful in identifying and propagating whitebark pine trees that have genetic resistance to the blister rust fungus. Genetically resistant trees have been planted at Crater Lake National Park and in other forests across Oregon to improve the chances that the threatened species will survive. Stay tuned for a new feature from “Oregon Field Guide” updating the story.

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