On Wednesday February 18th at 7pm in Columbia Falls’ Glacier Discovery Center, the Flathead Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society features Flathead National Forest botanist Kay Izlar for a slide show on the Whitebark Pine.
From the MNPS announcement: Whitebark pine is a keystone species of Rocky Mountain alpine and subalpine areas. Its large, high fat seeds are an important food for grizzly bears, red squirrels and the Clark’s nutcracker. Because it can become established and thrive under harsh conditions, it acts as a pioneer, sheltering other tree species. A non-native disease (white pine blister rust), mountain pine beetle infestations, competition from shade-tolerant trees and decades of fire exclusion have severely reduced whitebark pine and threaten these high-elevation ecosystems.
Kay is a dancer, botanist, and natural resources specialist. For the past 10 years, she has been a field botanist for the National Park Service, Forest Service, and private contractors. She is currently the forest botanist for the Flathead National Forest in Kalispell, MT. She recently completed her Masters degree in Natural Resource Conservation at the University of Montana, where she studied the whitebark pine.
The event will be held at Glacier Discovery Square, 540 Nucleus Ave. Columbia Falls. Please enter on the NW side of the building, next to the Glacier Bank drive up.
Interested in more info? You can join the Native Plant Society at 5:30 for their general meeting, where you can learn more about this group and how to get involved. Likewise, more info is available at mtnativeplants.org