Randy Moody, co-founder of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada (WPEFC), is a leading provincial expert in whitebark and limber pine ecosystems and the recovery of these endangered species. Based in Kimberley, he has worked on related conservation and restoration projects throughout BC and beyond.
Randy is fascinated by these species of pine and their many interconnections, including wildlife, climate change, fire ecology, mountain pine beetle, and forest health, and he enjoys being able to collaborate with people from a wide variety of specialties.
“When you’re at a whitebark pine meeting, you might be sitting at a table with an entomologist on one side, a grizzly bear biologist on the other, and a fire ecologist across the way. This work is a great melting pot of expertise that comes together to help us in understanding and restoring the whole ecosystem.”
About 16 years ago, Randy started the WPEFC as a sister agency to the original Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation based in Montana. The Canadian chapter works in BC and Alberta, and continues to play a leading role in coordinating projects promoting recovery work, engaging public and private partners, supporting research, and conducting educational programs to further knowledge, expertise, and management of these ecosystems.
“Collaboration is crucial to recover these endangered species.” Randy explains. “We host whitebark pine meetings every month and the diversity of people is quite incredible. We collaborate with the provincial and federal governments, First Nations, Parks Canada, non-profits, and biologists. Each year, WPEFC also hosts two-day intensive training workshops, which are open to anyone who wants to learn more about whitebark pine. We’ll have consultants working in mining or forestry, and naturalists getting involved through citizen science.”
Both whitebark pine and limber pine are endangered species, with whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) being the only Species at Risk Act (SARA)-listed endangered tree species in Western Canada. Limber pine (Pinus flexilis) is the rarest conifer in BC and a blue-listed species. The decline of limber and whitebark pine is attributed to several factors including the recent mountain pine beetle outbreaks, increased competition from shade-loving trees caused by fire suppression, and the existential threat to both species – impacts of the introduced white pine blister rust. A fourth threat looms over all: climate change, which amplifies the other threats and is predicted to shift whitebark pine habitat to higher elevations and higher latitudes. Limber pine has also been affected by urban development in the Rocky Mountain Trench.
Whitebark pine communities are considered a keystone species and provide critical ecosystem services including protecting watersheds, reducing erosion, and providing an important food source for birds and mammals. More information on the importance of whitebark pine ecosystems can be found on the WPEFC website. The range of whitebark pine in BC is from north of Smithers to the US border, and the WPEFC helps steward these trees and support recovery work throughout the entire region.
“Columbia Basin Trust’s multi-year funding has been instrumental,” Randy says, “as well as funding from the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program and Environment and Climate Change Canada. It has allowed us to set up long-term projects; one is from Valemount to the Revelstoke and Golden area, and the other project operates from there south to the international border. The Trust’s multi-year funding allows us to collect cones from whitebark pine on years when the cone crop is good. Once we have enough cones, we invest our funds and energy into seedlings, planting, and getting the restoration done. When surveying trees for cone collection, we look for areas with high infection from white pine blister rust; in that sea of infection, we search for the rare healthy individuals. There’s something special about those trees with genetic resistance to the disease, and those are the trees we collect cones from.”
The timing of cone collection is also a critical component of the process. Randy explains that in midsummer they climb the trees and place wire mesh cages over top of the cones, then return in September to pick the cones. Being such an important source of food for the Clark’s nutcracker and other birds, grizzly bears, and many rodents, the cones would otherwise all be eaten once the seeds have matured. “We only collect cones from a small percentage of trees,” Randy clarifies. “Plenty are left behind for wildlife to feed on.”
Seeds from harvested cones are sent to the provincial forest genetics research station near Vernon, where they grow the seedlings. When seedlings are about two years old, they are exposed to blister rust to screen for resistance to the disease.
The seedlings that are identified as having genetic resistance to blister rust are planted, typically in areas that have burned, where whitebark pine occurred before. Whitebark pine grows well following fire and recent burns are ideal for restoration.
Randy explains that climate change is having a large impact on their restoration efforts. “One issue is that whitebark pine grows at the highest elevations already and we’re told to plant them higher, but there’s rarely developed soil higher up. On some sites where whitebark pine previously grew, if you were to plant a seedling there today, it would die because it’s now too hot. We’re trying to plant them on the slightly cooler sites or gentle slopes where they’re not as exposed to the sun. An example is a site above Kimberly near Lakit Lookout, where on the ridge there are skeletons of dead whitebark pine trees, so we knew they had grown there. But when we planted, we had virtually zero survival in a trial; whereas on the cooler side of the ridge, where whitebark did not formerly grow, we had about 97% survival rates.”
Clark’s nutcrackers naturally distribute whitebark pine seeds, they cache seeds to feed on later and forgotten seeds may grow into new trees. Randy explains that nutcrackers tend to cache seeds in hot dry sites as those sites are snow free early and are best suited to seed recovery; if enough seeds are forgotten some will likely survive drought conditions to grow into trees. “We will plant whitebark pine in the cooler ‘climate safe’ sites and leave the hot dry sites as ‘nutcracker sites’ to be restored by the natural seed caching process.”
In addition to funders mentioned above, the WPEFC has previously received funding through the Columbia Valley Local Conservation Fund, to support limber pine restoration in the valleys through cone collection and planting seedlings. A total of 1,405 limber pine seedlings were planted from Canal Flats to Brisco in 2010-2011. The foundation has also collaborated with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) on a whitebark pine recovery project at Darkwoods Conservation Area near Creston.
Randy grew up on the southern Alberta prairie and has always preferred these vast open landscapes to a dense forest of trees. Ironically, he admits that for a long time “I had no interest in trees. I love my wide-open prairies and grasslands.” This began to change when he visited Waterton National Park, as well as Glacier National Park in Montana. A biologist named Kate Kendall was doing her thesis on the relationship between grizzly bears and whitebark pine, and this really caught his interest. Once he became aware of their significance, Randy realized that the only tree that he really cared about was whitebark pine (and larch, limber pine, and aspen get some recognition). He went on to do a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources Conservation at UBC, followed by a master’s degree in Forest Science, becoming a Registered Professional Biologist.
The fact that whitebark pine grows in the subalpine was a big draw as well; Randy spends much of his time hiking in the mountains, whether for work or for recreation. He is also a beekeeper – he and his wife have between 80 and 100 hives.
Randy Moody planting whitebark pine seedlings, with Mount Robson in the background.
