Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine trees (Pinus aristata) are captured in a photograph near sunset in the mountains of Colorado.

Each tree can live up to 2,500 years at altitudes up to 13,000 feet. And, although some have endured over two millennia straddling life and death along timberline, these trees now face several threats that combined could inflict a disastrous toll. Now, the cumulative effect of threats has the USDA Forest Service recommending a “rangewide seed and tissue conservation effort”.

Research and conservation efforts are underway. They are collecting and preserving viable seeds, growing seedlings in a laboratory setting and inoculating them with one of the three destructive forces currently at work against the Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine—the non-native White Pine Blister Rust. An outbreak of bark beetle and climate change are the other two forces combining in the assault.