Pining after

Despite the density of many of Lake Tahoe’s forests, three of the regions’ trees—the sugar pine, western white pine and whitebark pine—are dying from disease at a startling rate. The trees are infected with blister rust, a fungus transmitted from Europe during seed exchanges in the early 1900s. The fungus ravages the branches and pine needles of a tree until it succumbs. Blister rust has impacted forests in other western states including Oregon, Montana and Washington.

“It has an over 40 percent infection rate,” says Tressa Gibbard, development coordinator for the Sugar Pine Foundation, a nonprofit based in Tahoe. Of the 40 percent that contract the fungus, 90 percent of them will die. “One in four of every tree in the Lake Tahoe basin is affected. So nearly all of our white pines are dying, whether or not they look like it.”

The sugar pine has the largest pine cones in the world, and serves as a habitat and food source for local wildlife. The trees also help control snowpack on the mountains. Once a commonly found tree in the Tahoe basin—which includes Reno—much of the sugar pine species was cut down to be used for construction or mine timbering.

“It’s excellent timber for mining,” Gibbard says.

White pine bark is also known for aiding in fire suppression—a good option for deterring wildfires.

“As sugar pines mature, they develop fire resistance,” says Gibbard. “This helps decrease the intensity of out of control wildfires.”

Several years ago, the Sugar Pine Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service discovered that 3-to-5 percent of the pines have a natural gene resistance to the fungus. Once the resistant trees are identified, the cones are collected and raised to seedlings. The seedlings are then planted every spring and fall because “that’s when seedlings have the best chance” at surviving due to the moist and nutrient-rich soil, Gibbard says. The Sugar Pine Foundation and Forest Service began planting resistant seedlings in 2008, and the trees are monitored after six months to a year. Gibbard says most of the young trees are thriving.

To identify candidate trees, “We use a giant slingshot to catapult a rope over a branch,” says Gibbard. “Then we shake the branch to gather cones. We inoculate the seedlings, and once we know the resistant trees, we’re able to replant.”

“As many cones as possible” are collected from the identified resistant trees and sent to nurseries in California, which cultivate the cones into seedlings and send them back to the Sugar Pine Foundation to replant.

Gibbard says that last year, around 9,000 “proven resistant trees” were planted locally, including Lake Tahoe, Truckee and Reno. Reno residents can see the trees behind the Patagonia Outlet on White Fir Street.

While it will take decades to determine the long-term impact of the fungus-resistant pines, Gibbard hopes that by planting new trees, locals will be able to stop the fungus from permanently damaging Tahoe’s ecosystem.

“We’re just helping by speeding up the natural process,” she says.