Park Employee Pulls a Whitebark Seedling from a Bag. Original public domain image from Flickr
Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a keystone species that lives at high elevations. These trees are threatened by native pine beetles, non-native blister rust fungus, and human-caused climate change. Glacier National Park is part of a large restoration project to collect seeds and plant seedlings. Here you can see park staff planting seedlings–that are hopefully resistant to pine beetles and blister rust–into fresh snow on Mount Brown. The snow makes for a chilly cradle for the little trees but the extra moisture will do them good.