Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society

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Whitebark pine: Current status and threats that led to proposed protections under the Endangered Species Act

When: Friday, January 22 at 10:00 am (Due to speaker scheduling, this program will be on Friday, but a recording of it should be available by our regular meeting time on Saturday, Jan. 23rd at 10 am.)

KNPS’s January 2021 program on Friday, Jan. 22, will only be offered online via Zoom (registration info below). There will be NO in-person meeting at Sandpoint Community Hall. Our guest speaker will be Christy Cleaver, US Forest Service Plant Pathologist. This program will be a live webinar, co-sponsored by Sandpoint Parks & Rec. There will be opportunity to ask questions via Chat. It will also be recorded for later viewing on the Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society’s YouTube Channel.

About the speaker: Since 2015, Christy Cleaver has been a Plant Pathologist in Coeur d’Alene with the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Health Protection, which monitors forest diseases and insects, conducts forest health evaluations, and provides management guidance, training, and conservation education. Christy received B.S. degrees in Forest Biology and Natural Resource Management and an M.S. in Ecology, with an emphasis in Forest Pathology, from Colorado State University. She has worked in forest pathology for 11 years in Colorado, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho with emphasis on white pine blister rust and high elevation white pines.

Summary of Christy’s presentation: Whitebark pine, a critical component of high elevation ecosystems in the western U.S. and Canada, was recently proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The normally long-lived, stress-tolerant pine is declining throughout most of its range due to a combination of the introduced disease white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle, fire, and climate change. Restoration efforts are ongoing and include a National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan. Learn how you can help protect whitebark pines.

We are fortunate to have the opportunity this month to learn about this iconic, high-elevation native pine species, as comments on its listing as “threatened” under ESA are due by Feb. 1. Comments in favor of this listing are encouraged and may be submitted through the American Forests Action Alert at:  

We are fortunate to have the opportunity this month to learn about this iconic, high-elevation native pine species, as comments on its listing as “threatened” under ESA are due by Feb. 1. Comments in favor of this listing are encouraged and may be submitted through the American Forests Action Alert at: https://www.americanforests.org/action-alerts/action-alert-protect-whitebark-pines-from-extinction/

Registration (required for attendance):

When the live webinar will occur?: Jan. 22, 2021 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

To register for the live webinar, go to this link or paste it into your web browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtfumhqDgtHNKVVsRHcEbgsIY7Br4_vUxb

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join Zoom on January 22nd.

If you have questions about this or other KNPS programs, please contact Preston Andrews, Programs Coordinator, at programs@nativeplantsociety.org.

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