DENVER — A new study shows that more than a quarter of whitebark pine trees – a species that provides a critical food supply for wildlife and plays a key role in preserving snowpack – have died over the past two decades.
The new research suggests that the critically important tree will lose the majority of its range in the next couple of decades. It’s listed as an endangered species due to disease, pine beetle outbreaks and wildfires.
“Whitebark pine is a harbinger of things to come in Colorado,” said ecologist Diana Tomback…