SDSU racing to save limber pine from invasive fungus

For the last four thousand years as the Anthropocene intensified in the Rocky Mountain region limber pine (Pinus flexilis) receded north and left a few isolated pockets high in the Black Hills, the easternmost population of the five needle white pine species. The oldest known specimen in the US is two thousand years.

Cronartium ribicola or white pine blister rust is native to China but was accidentally introduced to North America around 1900 and can be deadly for limber pine.

John Ball, a professor in the department of agronomy, horticulture and plant sciences, is part of a team working to save them. Julie Leidholt, an SDSU graduate and drone pilot, is working with Ball to keep the species in the hills. “We core sampled all limber pines that were of adult age … and we saw that the average age of the tree was quite old,” Leidholt said. “I think the oldest living tree was over 166 years old.” [South Dakota State University Collegian]

Professor Ball has a history of taking on the Republican establishment in the Black Hills. 

Native Douglas fir and lodgepole pine are virtually extirpated from the Black Hills National Forest but the agency is trying to restore limber pine in the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve.