Ep. 377 - The Whitebark Pine's Complicated Future
In Defense of Plants Podcast
In Defense of Plants
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 10 July 2022
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a cornerstone of the ecology of western North America. Whether its their direct interactions with animals like the Clark's nutcracker or their indirect influences on snowpack and hydrology, the loss of these trees would be devastating. Sadly, the whitebark pine is facing many threats. Joining us to talk about these threats and what is being done to curb some of them is Glacier National Park Naturalist Andrew Smith. Andrew is also the co-host of the wonderful podcast Headwaters which has an entire season devoted to this wonderful tree. Join us as we explore the wonders of the whitebark pine. This episode was produced in part by Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone and welcome to the In Defense of Plants Podcast, the official podcast of Indefensive |
| 0:04.7 | Plants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone doing this |
| 0:09.2 | week? Today we are talking about one of the coolest pine trees in North America, the White |
| 0:14.7 | Park Pine, Pinus Albacolus. This amazing pine is a cornerstone of the ecology of Western North America, especially at the high elevation areas in which it grows. |
| 0:24.5 | But as you're going to hear, it affects everything down the mountain, including access to clean, clear, necessary water. |
| 0:32.8 | Joining us to talk about this is Glacier National Park naturalist Andrew Smith, and he is a champion of this tree, |
| 0:39.1 | but a champion of all things ecology in Glacier National Park. He is a wealth of knowledge, |
| 0:44.7 | and together with his colleagues, they have put together an amazing podcast called Headwaters |
| 0:49.3 | that you must all go check out in which they cover white bark pine in a much more thorough |
| 0:53.9 | amount than we do |
| 0:55.1 | on this episode. But this is a great introduction to the species to wet your palate and get you |
| 0:58.9 | interested. And not only why the species is important, what's threatening it, but also what is |
| 1:03.8 | being done to ensure it is going to remain on the landscape for generations to come. I don't |
| 1:09.4 | want to steal any of us thunder. so let's just jump right into it. |
| 1:11.9 | Without further ado, |
| 1:13.0 | here's my conversation with Andrew Smith. |
| 1:15.0 | I hope you enjoy. |
| 1:40.6 | All right, Andrew Smith. It is so great to have you on the podcast. I'm so happy. We're able to make this work. So let's start off with an introduction. Tell everyone a little bit about who you are and what it is you do. |
| 1:47.7 | Sure. My name is Andrew Smith. I'm a ranger naturalist at Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. |
| 1:50.9 | And I've been a ranger here for six years. And in addition to going out and hiking the trails and teaching people about plants and |
| 1:57.8 | animals and rocks and all that stuff, I also am one of the hosts and |
| 2:01.7 | producers of Glacier National Park's podcast Headwaters, which has been a really fun project to be a |
... |
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