2013 WBP Operational Cone Collection on the Flathead NF
Project: Whitebark Pine Operational Cone Collection on the Flathead National Forest
Attachment: Flathead_Anderson_2013_Appendix
Agency/Forest or Park/District: Flathead National Forest (FNF), USFS
Project coordinator: Melissa Jenkins; Flathead NF; 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901 (406) 758-5333; mmjenkins@fs.fed.us
Contact: Karl Anderson, Flathead NF 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901 (406) 758-3535; kanderson@fs.fed.us
Cooperators: While the collection itself does not have direct cooperators, planting of the seedlings produced will include cooperators. Examples of recent cooperators that fund whitebark planting or sowing on the FNF are the Flathead County Resource Advisory Committee, the Arbor Day Foundation, Batesville Casket Company, and substantial funding from the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. Also, the Forest will be actively requesting funding in 2013 for collecting cones from an additional 30 trees through our Stewardship Retained Receipts Program.
Source of funding/amount:
FHP: $15,090.00
Supplemental funding: $18,700.00
Dates of restoration efforts: July-September 2014
| Objectives: |
Cage and collect cones from 30 trees, transport cones to the Coeur d’Alene (CDA) Nursery and extract seed.
Have seed available to grow seedlings for planting on the FNF and future wildfires. Currently, there are hundreds of acres of high elevation sites on the forest that would provide excellent whitebark pine restoration planting sites.
Scope: All seed collected on the FNF can be used anywhere within the Inland Northwest seed zone (a combination of the former Missions/Glacier Park, Clark Fork/Lolo Pass and Selkirk Cabinets seed zones). This operational collection would allow the FNF to continue to maintain an adequate inventory of seed, to meet our large multi-year planting needs. We would be able to continue to sow operational seed in an effort to get seedlings established in areas identified for restoration, primarily post fire areas. Currently we have 300 acres of seedlings growing at the CDA Nursery for out-year planting in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Because we are planting relatively large acres of whitebark, we also have a high need for seed collection.
Work Completed: Summer 2014
Methods: Cones caged in mid-summer, and collected in early-mid September. We have a cone collection contract that will allow the money to be obligated for out-year collections if there is an unexpected loss of the cone crop (as we did in 2010 when the cone crop was not the bumper crop we expected). The cones will be sent to the Coeur d‘Alene Nursery for seed extraction and future seedling production. Cones will be collected only from trees with phenotypic rust resistance. Because the trees on the FNF have been heavily exposed to rust for many years, and the 110-seed source study (Mahalovich, 2006) showed higher than average levels of resistance on the FNF, trees with phenotypic resistance are likely to have some level of genetic resistance.
Planting: No
Outcome: N/A
Monitoring since completion of the project
Dates: N/A
Plans for future monitoring: N/A
Will outcome meet goals? N/A
Future actions/follow up? N/A
Miscellaneous comments: N/A