The Rocky Mountain population is severely threatened by an introduced fungal disease known as white pine blister rust, and by pine beetles.
The aecial hosts are white pines (Pinus subgenus Strobus, family Pinaceae) and the telial hosts include wild and introduced currants and gooseberries (Ribes, family Grossulariaceae), and two genera of the Orobanchaceae, Pedicularis and Castilleja.
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Another form of control practiced in some areas is to diligently remove Ribes plants from any area near white pines.
A study in the mid-2000s showed whitebark pine had declined by 41 percent in the Western Cascades, due to two threats: white pine blister rust and mountain pine beetles.
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Many stands of Pinus albicaulis nearly range-wide are infected with white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), a fungal disease that was introduced from Europe.
An introduced fungal disease known as white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) is believed to affect some individuals.
This plant is an alternate host for the white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), the vector of a pine tree disease.
This currant species is susceptible to white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), a fungus which attacks and kills pines, so it is sometimes eradicated from forested areas where the fungus is active to prevent its spread.
Western white pine (Pinus monticola) has been seriously affected by the white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola), a fungus that was accidentally introduced from Europe in 1909.
Cronartium ribicola | white pine blister rust (''Cronartium ribicola'') | ''Cronartium ribicola'' on ''Ribes |