Cataloging Information
Recovery after fire
Innovative techniques are needed to restore the health of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) communities in the northern Rocky Mountains of the United States, inland West, and adjacent areas of Canada, because of the detrimental effects of the exotic disease white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) coupled with fire exclusion policies and recent mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonous ponderosae) epidemics (Chapters 1 and 11). Land managers need guidelines to return native patterns, processes, compositions, and structures to declining whitebark pine communities in these regions. Even in community types where whitebark pine is less fire dependent (Chapter 4), these techniques may be useful for facilitating the establishment of blister-rust-resistant trees. This chapter outlines an approach for planning, implementing, and monitoring whitebark pine restoration projects to accomplish this goal. Specific restoration treatments and techniques are discussed in the context of the ecosystem processes being restored. This approach is presented more as a guide to restoration efforts rather than as a step-by-step procedure. All steps discussed in this chapter need not be completed if time, money, or personnel are lacking. Many restoration projects can be implemented in small areas as demonstrations (i.e., prototypes) without the multiple spatial analyses and detailed planning processes presented here. Most of the principles and procedures presented in this chapter apply to the restoration of other fire-dependent ecosystems as well.