First Report of the White Pine Blister Rust Fungus (Cronartium ribicola) Infecting Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) and Ribes spp. in the Jarbidge Mountains of Northeastern Nevada

The Jarbidge Mountains are a remote and little-visited desert mountain range at the northern edge of the Great Basin in Elko County, NV, 110 km north of Elko and 115 km southwest of Twin Falls, ID. The forest is dominated by subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) at lower elevations and whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) at higher elevations; limber pine (P. flexilis) occurs along streams in canyons at lower elevations (2). P. albicaulis and P. flexilis are hosts for the blister rust fungus, Cronartium ribicola. In the late 1990s, a survey across the Intermountain West reported no evidence of C. ribicola in the Jarbidge Mountains or elsewhere in the central Great Basin (3). However, unpublished observations by D. A. Charlet in 1988 and 2001 indicate that blister rust has been present in the Jarbidge Mountains for at least 16 years. In September 2002, D. R. Vogler visited the Jarbidge Mountains over a 2-week period, examining whitebark pines along the unpaved route through the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest con...