Big Funky Trees
When it comes to tree riding, every region has its staple timber—East Coast has its birch, the Pacific Northwest its Douglas fir, Colorado its aspen groves. But in the mountain west, one tree, rare as it may be, stands apart from the rest: the whitebark pine. Shining like beacons on cliff tops from California to Wyoming to central BC, whitebarks grow in incredibly complex and expressive shapes. They also produce tasty seeds, making it a keystone species for grizzly bears and the Clark’s nutcracker, a charismatic relative of the whiskey jack. Thanks to climate change, insect outbreaks and the introduction of white pine blister rust (a disease that’s caused near-total mortality in some forests), finding a whitebark in the wild can be a tall task.
As of 2022, whitebark pine is now endangered in Canada and the U.S. Enter the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation (WBEF), a dedicated group working toward restoring the tree to its rightful place at the top of the mountain.
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