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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants |
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VALUE AND USE
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE:The wood of limber pine has little commercial value. Its potential for timber and fuelwood production is low, because the trees are slow growing with irregular form [1,2,20,42,49,85,96,101]. Limber pine has been used locally for mine props and railroad ties [102].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:The large, wingless seeds of limber pine have high energy content. Pine "nuts" provide critical food for rodents and birds, which cache the seeds for later use. Other small mammals and birds benefit from these caches. Bears also feed from caches [62,66]. Sites with limber pine provide key winter range for deer and elk [85]. Bighorn sheep use open stands on ridges. Difficult access and low grass production result in low forage value of limber pine stands for livestock [1,42].
PALATABILITY:Although limber pine browse is unpalatable to large mammals, it provides some food for birds and small mammals. The palatability of limber pine for livestock and wildlife has been rated as follows [26]:
CO MT ND UT WY
Cattle Poor Poor Poor Poor Poor
Domestic sheep Poor Poor Poor Poor Poor
Horses Poor Poor Poor Poor Poor
Pronghorn ---- ---- Poor Poor Poor
Elk Poor Poor ---- Poor Fair
Mule deer Poor Poor Poor Poor Fair
White-tailed deer ---- ---- Poor ---- Fair
Small mammals ---- ---- ---- Good Good
Small nongame birds ---- ---- Poor Good Good
Upland game birds ---- ---- ---- Good Good
Waterfowl ---- ---- ---- ---- Poor
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:Limber pine browse is rated fair in energy value and poor in protein value [26]. The seeds are highly nutritious, providing amino acids, lipids, and averaging 7,178 calories per gram [64].
COVER VALUE:The degree to which limber pine provides cover for wildlife species is as follows [26]:
CO MT ND UT WY
Pronghorn ---- ---- Poor Poor Fair
Elk ---- ---- ---- Good ----
Mule deer ---- ---- ---- Good ----
White-tailed deer ---- ---- Good ---- Good
Small mammals Good ---- ---- Good Good
Small nongame birds Good ---- Good Good Good
Upland game birds ---- Good ---- Good Good
Waterfowl ---- ---- ---- ---- Poor
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:Because of its slow growth, limber pine has been used only to a limited extent in land reclamation projects [120]. Vegetation recovery is slow on the exposed, hot, dry, rocky sites where it is found, and soil erosion can prevent complete restoration. However, limber pine's drought tolerance and ability to survive at high elevations indicate that it has potential for use in revegetation projects [104]. Grossnickle and Reid [33] tested the feasibility of including limber pine seedlings in the reclamation of a high-elevation mining site in Colorado. The site was a molybdenum tailing pond buried in deep mine waste rock. One-year-old containerized limber pine, lodgepole pine, and Engelmann spruce seedlings were inoculated with 3 species of ectomycorrhizal fungi prior to outplanting. Because of greenhouse colonization of seedling roots by a 4th "wild" strain of ectomycorrhizal fungus, no uncolonized seedlings were outplanted. Some of the seedlings were also treated in the field with fertilizer or sewage sludge combined with wood chips. All seedlings were protected from wind and sun with cedar shingles. During the 4th growing season, significant (p = 0.05) differences in seedling height among the fungal treatments were detected. The addition of the sewage sludge/wood chip slurry improved seedling height of all 3 species in 1 of the fungal treatments. At the end of the 4th growing season, overall survival of limber pine, lodgepole pine, and Engelmann spruce seedlings was 60%, 52% and 62%, respectively. The authors noted that in all instances, seedling mortality appeared to be caused by unfavorable soil and climatic conditions and not by pathogen, insect, or animal damage. Limber pine cones may yield 1,100 to 1,300 cleaned seeds per pound, and stored seed has been shown viable for at least 5 years. Freshly collected seeds may germinate without pretreatment, but cold, moist stratification of up to 90 days improves germination [59].
OTHER USES AND VALUES:Limber pine is used in the nursery trade for landscaping [35,36,40].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:Management of limber pine forests associated with Douglas-fir typically favors the growth of the economically important Douglas-fir. Of primary management importance in these areas is watershed protection and enhancement. The slow rate of vegetation recovery in areas where limber pine occurs requires dispersed, low-impact recreation to maintain the aesthetic appeal of these forests [25]. Forage productivity can be increased by periodic surface fires [29]. Limber pine trees are infected and killed by white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) throughout the tree's range. Ribes species are obligate alternate hosts of the rust [46,47,48,76,116]. Limber pine appears to have less resistance to blister rust than other North American white pines (Strobi), with greenhouse infection levels as high as 98 to 100% [45,113]. In a 3-year greenhouse study of relative seedling susceptibility to blister rust, limber pine mortality was 75% (n=348). In comparison, mortality in whitebark pine was 33% (n=207) and 86% in southwestern white pine (n=323) [45]. Limber pine is susceptible to numerous other fungal diseases [101]. It can be heavily infected or killed by limber pine dwarf-mistletoe (Arceuthobium cyanocarpum) [12,39,71,72], and is susceptible to infestation by mountain pine beetles, cone beetles, coneworms, and budworms [54,61,101].
Related categories for SPECIES: Pinus flexilis | Limber Pine |
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