Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation Annual Meeting
Lincoln, Montana
September 28-30, 2007

The WPEF Annual Conference was held in Lincoln, Montana this year.  Lincoln is a very small outdoorsy town nestled among stately old ponderosa pines, at the head of the Blackfoot River just west of the Continental Divide. It is located on Highway 200 half-way between Missoula and Great Falls--each 80 miles distant—and is about 60 miles from Helena. Lincoln is surrounded by the Helena National Forest, and the Lincoln District, headed by Ranger Amber Kamps, enthusiastically co-hosted our Whitebark Pine/Limber Pine Science and Management Conference.  The meeting was a great success with over 70 people attending.  Attendees ranged from National Forest Personnel to University Professors to graduate students to private citizens.  Amber Kamps reserved the Lincoln Activity Center for this meeting, which is a wonderful hexagonal log cabin situated directly on the main street that runs through Lincoln.  It was an woodsy venue for an exciting and interesting slate of scientific and management-oriented presentations held Friday, September 28th.  The schedule was as follows:

Time	Speaker	Title
8:00-8:10	Keane/Arno	Welcome and logistics
8:10-8:30	Ron Mastrogiuseppe	Whitebark pine in Crater Lake NP
8:30-850	Shawn McKinney	A predictive model of Nutcracker seed dispersal in whitebark pine
8:50-9:10	Diana Six	Rapid system for rating white pine blister rust
9:10-9:30	Dan Reinhart	Blister rust in the GYA
9:30-10:00	Break
10:00-10:20	Diana Tomback	Blister rust in Krumholz
10:20-10:40	Holly Kearns	Modeling the potential distribution of white pine blister rust in the central Rocky Mountains
10:40-11:00	Don Helmbrecht	a map of blister rust infection across the range of whitebark pine
11:00-11:20	Carmen Wong	How many whitebark pine trees are there? A sampling design for estimating density
11:20-11:40	Cyndi Smith	Results of a limber pine survey in Canada
11:40-12:00	Bob Keane	10 situations that shout "watch out" in wbp restoration
12:00-1:00	LUNCH
1:00-1:20	Jane Smith	Educational tools and exhibits for telling the whitebark pine story
1:20-1:40	Art Zack	Whitebark pine restoration on the Idaho Panhandle
1:40-2:00	Laurie Kurth	Status of whitebark pine in the Cascades
2:00-2:20	John Schwandt	Whitebark pine in Peril--a case for restoration
2:20-2:40	Jay Lindgren/Jarel Kurtz	Whitebark pine restoration on the Helena NF
2:40-3:00	MaryAnn Davies	Equipment for protecting whitebark pine cones and for harvesting
3:00-3:30	Break
3:30-3:50	Steve Arno	Carlton Ridge RNA and Great Burn Roadless Area: Candidates for whitebark pine research
3:50-4:10	Liz Davy	R4 whitebark pine restoration efforts
4:10-4:30	Teresa J. Lorenz	A preliminary analysis of home range size of Clark's Nutcrackers in Washington State
4:30-5:30	Tomback	WPEF members meeting

Poster Presentations:

Ectomycorrhizal fungi of whitebark pine seedlings on burned and adjacent unburned forests in regard to restoration strategies. Paul Trusty and Cathy Cripps, Montana State University.

A preliminary report of ectomycorrhizae on whitebark pine roots from Yellowstone, Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks. Cathy Cripps and Paul Trusty, Montana State University.

Two splendid local day hikes were offered but inclement weather forced everyone to participate in an informal set of presentations at the Lincoln Ranger District office. .